Chinese premier hopes Thailand to facilitate China-ASEAN ties

NANNING, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday called on Thailand to play a positive role in boosting China-ASEAN ties.

Li made the remarks when meeting with Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Yingluck was invited to attend the opening ceremony of the tenth China-ASEAN Expo and the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, which will be held from Tuesday to Friday.

The bilateral strategic and cooperative partnership has entered a period of fast development, said Li, noting that China attaches great importance to developing friendly and cooperative relations with Thailand.

He said China is ready to work with Thailand to enhance high-level exchanges and beef up cooperation in big projects involving transportation, infrastructure, energy and resources.

He called on the two sides to boost people-to-people exchanges and ensure bilateral cooperation to benefit the people of the two countries.

He expressed the hope that Thailand, as the coordinating country for China-ASEAN relations for 2012-2015, will push for greater progress in the development of China-ASEAN ties.

Yingluck said China is an important partner of Thailand. She said Thailand is willing to work with China to improve bilateral cooperation mechanism, so as to expand mutually beneficial cooperation.

She said the Thai side welcomes Chinese enterprises to invest in Thailand and expressed the hope that more Chinese tourists will visit her country.

Thailand will make all-out efforts to ensure the safety of Chinese citizens in the country, she said.

She also pledged that Thailand will continue to play an active role in boosting ASEAN-China ties.