Bangkok.- The Prime Minister of Thailand, Anutin Charnvirakul, begins a four-day visit to China this Thursday, one of Bangkok’s main trading partners, and is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on a trip with a strong economic focus.
Anutin, who took office in September 2025, is one of the staunch advocates for promoting and strengthening cooperation between the Asian giant and Thailand, a historic U.S. ally in the region.
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“The focus will be on promoting economic cooperation, particularly in emerging fields such as science, technology, innovation, artificial intelligence (AI), and the industries of the future,” noted Prime Minister’s Office spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek this week.
The Thai leader, who has Chinese roots among his ancestors, plans to attend the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, where he will meet with his Cambodian counterpart, Hun Manet.
In parallel to that conference, organized in Shanghai, Anutin will hold a meeting with Xi, the Thai spokesperson specified without offering further details.
He will also visit the city of Chengdu, where he will preside over the opening ceremony of the Thailand-China Economic and Investment Forum, against a backdrop of a slowdown in foreign investment in Thai companies and more moderate economic growth than in other Southeast Asian countries.
Anutin “will meet with major Chinese private sector companies and Thai business groups investing in China to boost cooperation in trade and investment,” according to official information, which does not specify dates.
The last stop of the tour will be Beijing. There, he will meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, with whom he will preside over the signing of a range of bilateral agreements in areas such as education, science, trade, investment, and agriculture, among others.
Both are expected to address security issues such as concerns over the expansion of cyber-scam centers, many linked to Chinese mafias, in countries like Burma and Cambodia, which border Thailand.
Bangkok also seeks to recover the influx of Chinese tourists, who in 2019 reached 10 million and accounted for a quarter of arrivals.
However, after the COVID-19 pandemic, several security issues, such as a high-profile kidnapping on Thai territory of Chinese citizens to send them to work in border scam centers or the decriminalization of cannabis consumption, have caused Chinese travelers to choose other alternative destinations.
