On October 1, 2026, as the People's Republic of China marked the 77th anniversary of its founding, Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) sent a congratulatory message to Chinese President Xi Jinping on behalf of the Thai people and government. According to an announcement from the Chinese Embassy in Thailand, the King's message offered congratulations on the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. The gesture continues a diplomatic protocol the Thai monarchy has observed for years, and is the latest example of close contact maintained at the head-of-state level between the two countries.
Under international diplomatic convention, heads of state exchanging congratulatory messages on each other's major national anniversaries is an important sign that a bilateral relationship remains in good standing. For China and Thailand, this practice has continued for years: public records show that King Vajiralongkorn has previously sent messages to Chinese presidents around China's National Day, for instance in 2021, when he congratulated Xi Jinping on the 72nd anniversary of the PRC's founding and expressed hope for even stronger cooperation between the two countries across all fields. This year's message continues that tradition into 2026, reflecting a stable and close channel of communication between the two royal and top leadership levels.
This ceremonial exchange runs in both directions. Less than a year earlier, in December 2025, on the occasion of Thailand's National Day (which falls on the King's birthday), President Xi Jinping sent a message to King Vajiralongkorn congratulating Thailand on the economic and social development achievements of the past year and acknowledging the country's growing international standing. Around the same time, Chinese Premier Li Qiang sent a separate congratulatory message to Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul. Such reciprocal exchanges of greetings between the two countries' leaders are widely seen as a concrete expression of continuously warming bilateral relations.
The King's latest message comes against the backdrop of a series of major interactions between the two countries over the past year. From November 13 to 14, 2025, King Vajiralongkorn paid a state visit to China — the first official visit to China by a reigning Thai monarch. Meeting the King at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi Jinping noted the special significance of the King choosing China as the first major power he visited since ascending the throne; 2025 also marked the 50th anniversary of China-Thailand diplomatic relations, which the two sides jointly celebrated under the theme "Golden 50 Years of China-Thailand Friendship." During the visit, a welcoming ceremony was held in Tiananmen Square with a 21-gun salute, and a People's Liberation Army honor guard was reviewed and performed a march-past; that evening, Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan hosted a state banquet for the Thai royal guests — a level of protocol that underscored the importance China attaches to the Thai monarchy and to bilateral relations.
According to official Chinese readouts of the meeting, Xi Jinping also noted that King Vajiralongkorn was the first Thai king to pay a formal visit to China since the establishment of diplomatic relations, a status that gave the state visit particular historical significance; both sides said they were willing to jointly advance the building of a China-Thailand community with a shared future and strive for greater progress in the next 50 years of diplomatic ties. According to Al Jazeera, Xi described the relationship between the two countries during the meeting as being like family, and said China wished to further strengthen strategic alignment with Thailand. King Vajiralongkorn said during the meeting that this was his first visit to China in many years, during which he had witnessed China's enormous changes in economic and social development, and that Thailand wished to actively draw on China's development experience, expand cooperation with China across all fields, and deepen people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. Xi also expressed condolences during the meeting over the recent death of Thailand's Queen Mother Sirikit, and praised the long-standing and important contributions of the Thai royal family to China-Thailand friendship.
Shortly before that state visit, exchanges between the two royal houses had already shown a deep emotional foundation. On October 26, 2025, following the death of Thailand's Queen Mother Sirikit at the age of 93, Xi Jinping sent King Vajiralongkorn a message of condolence, recalling the Queen Mother's 2000 visit to China on behalf of the late King Bhumibol. On October 31, meeting Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, Xi again expressed his condolences and asked the Prime Minister to convey his sympathies to the King. This series of exchanges provided an emotional and diplomatic continuity leading into the King's National Day message to Xi.
Beyond ceremonial political exchanges, China-Thailand economic and trade ties have continued to grow strongly in 2026. Data from the Chinese Embassy in Thailand show bilateral trade exceeded $40 billion in the first quarter of 2026, up more than 20 percent year on year. Thai statistics, meanwhile, put total bilateral trade at $108.804 billion in the first seven months of the year, up 29.89 percent; however, with imports growing faster than exports, Thailand's trade deficit with China widened 59.31 percent year on year to $55.13 billion. Chinese commerce officials have noted that China has been Thailand's largest trading partner for 13 consecutive years. China has also become Thailand's largest source of foreign direct investment, with nearly $7 billion in projects over the past two years. In terms of people-to-people exchange, 2.65 million Chinese tourists had visited Thailand by early July this year, reflecting continued active cultural and tourism links between the two countries.
In addition, according to official Thai statistics, Thailand's total trade with its free trade agreement partners rose 21.8 percent year on year in the first half of 2026, with China remaining Thailand's largest trading partner; this growth rate corroborates the bilateral trade figures previously released by the Chinese Embassy in Thailand and Thai customs authorities, further illustrating that economic and trade ties between China and Thailand have continued to strengthen in the years following the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations.
High-level visits have likewise been frequent. In July 2026, Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul visited Beijing and held talks with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, with the two sides agreeing to establish a "2+2" dialogue mechanism involving their foreign and defense ministries, and signing around 15 cooperation agreements or memoranda of understanding covering fields including AI education, nuclear fusion research, satellite navigation, higher education, industrial and supply-chain cooperation, intellectual property protection and public health — further broadening the scope of strategic cooperation between the two countries. Earlier, in February 2026, Anutin also attended a Chinese New Year celebration hosted by the Chinese Embassy in Thailand marking the 51st anniversary of China-Thailand diplomatic relations.
Observers generally regard the Thai King's congratulatory message on China's National Day as a ceremonial diplomatic gesture, but one that, set against the backdrop of nearly a year of royal visits, high-level engagement and broadly warming trade and economic cooperation between the two countries, carries significance beyond protocol alone — reflecting the deepening comprehensive cooperative relationship between China and Thailand following the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties. As trade, investment and people-to-people exchanges between the two countries continue to expand, the political foundation of the bilateral relationship is also being steadily reinforced.