Appointed by President Xi Jinping and carrying the genuineness and cordiality of the Chinese Government and people towards the Thai Government and people, I am serving as the 13th Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the Kingdom of Thailand, a glorious mission with great significance.
Thailand, renowned for its gorgeous mountains and rivers, abundant products, kind people and harmonious society, has scored remarkable development achievements. Facing the humanity's common challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, all sectors of Thailand have been making firm and concerted efforts in response. The pandemic will eventually be overcome and Thailand will surely enjoy a better tomorrow.
China and Thailand are one family. Our two countries are geographically proximate, culturally interconnected, blood-lined, and philosophically interlinked. The two countries enjoy profound historical linkages for thousands of years, solid bonds of interest for mutual benefit and win-win outcomes, and tremendous potentials for development. In the 46 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China and Thailand have been working and moving forward in togetherness, with strategic mutual trust continuously deepened, pragmatic cooperation rapidly expanded, and people-to-people amity increasingly strengthened. The two sides have been supporting each other on issues concerning each other's major and core interests, actively strengthening the docking of development strategies and the exchanges of governance and administration experience, and firmly promoting the high-quality joint promotion of the Belt and Road Initiative. China has been Thailand's largest trading partner for eight consecutive years. In the first half of this year, the bilateral trade volume between the two sides bucked the downward trend and increased by 38 percent. Prior to the pandemic, the number of Chinese tourists' visits to Thailand exceeded 10 million a year, accounting for one-third of all foreign tourists' visits to Thailand. The friendly cooperation between China and Thailand conforms to the fundamental interests of the two peoples and receives people's heartfelt and firm support. I am fully convinced that, no matter how the international landsacpe changes, the China-Thailand friendly cooperation should and will certainly continue to forge ahead.
Genuineness is revealed in adversity. The traditional friendship between China and Thailand has been continuously refined and cherished in the anti-pandemic cooperation. Whether it is to encourage each other to carry on or to share prevention and control diagnosis and treatment experience in time, whether it is to donate masks, protective gowns, testing reagents, or to provide drugs and vaccines, China and Thailand have interpreting with practical actions the genuine kinship as one family and the profound connotation of fostering a community with a shared future for mankind, injecting continuous and vigorous impetus to the development of China-Thailand relations in the new era. In the fight against the pandemic, as long as Thailand is in need, China will go all out to provide selfless support and assistance.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC). The past 100 years has witnessed the CPC forge ahead for the happiness of the Chinese people and the common good of the whole world. Standing at a new historical starting point, under the leadership of the CPC, the Chinese people will continue to work unremittingly for realizing the Chinese dream of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, achieving the common well-being of mankind, and building a community with a shared future for mankind.
China's development needs the world and China's development benefits the world. At this time last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha pointed out in their phone call that China-Thailand relations enjoy a solid foundation and great potentials. China is willing to work with Thailand to promote the continuous new development of the China-Thailand comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, consolidate the solidarity of countries in the region, and maintain their good momentum of development and prosperity. China is ready to work with Thailand to earnestly implement the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, continue to tap potential, deepen innovative cooperation, and jointly open up a more brilliant future for China-Thailand relations.
I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to express my high respect and heartfelt appreciation to friends from all walks of life of Thailand who have been caring about and supporting the development of China-Thailand relations and extend my sincere greetings and best wishes to Chinese citizens, overseas Chinese, Chinese international students and employees of Chinese-funded enterprises in Thailand. I am looking forward to in-depth exchanges with you, my friends, to enhance consensus, strengthen cooperation, and seek common progress.
Han Zhiqiang
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
the People's Republic of China to the Kingdom of Thailand
11 August 2021