Bangkok, September 18th—Song Tao, Minister of the International Department of the CPC Central Committee, met here today with Chuan Leekpai, Chief Advisor of the Democrat Party, President of the National Assembly and  Speaker of the House of Representatives of Thailand, and Jurin Laksanawisit, Leader of the Democrat Party, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce of Thailand.

Song first conveyed the sincere greetings and best wishes from Li Zhanshu, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, and Wang Yang, Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee, to Chuan Leekpai. Song said that China and Thailand enjoy traditional friendship and fruitful practical cooperation. In recent years, under the guidance of the high-level strategies of both sides, China-Thailand comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership has maintained a sound momentum of development. China is ready to work closely with the new Thai government to deeply synergize development strategies and build the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation so as to deliver more benefits of China-Thailand practical cooperation to the two peoples. China supports Thailand in taking the rotating presidency of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to consolidate the momentum of regional peace and development, and uphold multilateralism and free trade. The CPC attaches great importance to developing traditional friendly relations with the Democrat Party of Thailand and is willing to increase exchanges between the two Parties, learn from each other's experience in party governance and state administration and contribute to better development of China-Thailand relations.

Chuan asked Song to convey his greetings and wishes to Chairman Li and Chairman Wang. Chuan and Jurin said that the new Thai government is ready to actively participate in the joint construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, deepen traditional economic and trade relations, expand cooperation in agriculture and other fields and bring more benefits to the two peoples. They thanked China for its strong support for Thailand's assumption of the rotating presidency of the ASEAN and expressed their willingness to push the ASEAN and China to jointly build the Belt and Road Initiative and make positive contributions to the development of ASEAN-China relations. The Democrat Party of Thailand attaches great importance to exchanges and cooperation with the CPC and hopes to deepen the exchange of experience in party governance and state administration and push for sustained and in-depth development of Thailand-China relations.

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