On 13 December 2015, ASEAN-China Centre (ACC) Secretary-General H.E. Mme. Yang Xiuping met with H.E. Mr. Phinij Jarusombat, Former Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand and President of Thai-Chinese Cultural and Friendship Council during the celebration of the “Thailand-China Culture and Tourism Motorcade Tour” arrival in Bangkok. Mr. Chen Jiang, Culture Counsellor of the Chinese Embassy in Thailand, Mr. Sun Jianhua, Deputy Director of Education, Culture and Tourism Division (ECTD) of ACC, were also present.
Secretary-General Yang Xiuping thanked Mr. Phinij Jarusombat for inviting her to attend the celebration and for his longtime dedication to Thailand-China relations and ASEAN-China relations. Not long ago Mr. Phinij attended the 14th Asian Art Festival in Quanzhou, China, illustrating his high attention to people-to-people exchanges among Asian countries. His informative speech at the Festival was appreciated by the participants. It was believed that under his keen interest and guidance, cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and Thailand would achieve a new progress.
Secretary-General Yang briefed on ACC’s mandates and major work. She said that ACC, since its establishment, had been actively implementing important consensus reached by leaders of ASEAN and China and promoting practical cooperation in the fields of trade, investment, education, culture and tourism. On people-to-people exchanges, ACC invited cultural officials of ASEAN countries to visit and have exchanges with ACC, and successfully organized or supported a series of abundant programmes and activities, such as the 10th China-ASEAN Cultural Forum, the 2015 CAEXPO Cultural Exhibition, the Best of China Performing Arts, Beijing Cultural Tour in ASEAN, and so forth. As an important Member State of ASEAN, as well as an important member of Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Mechanism, Thailand had played a very significant role in developing ASEAN-China relations. ACC would like to strengthen communication with Thai-Chinese Cultural and Friendship Council under the leadership of Mr. Phinij to further promote people-to-people exchanges between China and Thailand as well as China and ASEAN to a new level.
Mr. Phinij welcomed Secretary-General Yang to attend the celebration and thanked ACC for its support to the “Thailand-China Culture and Tourism Motorcade Tour”. He said that Thailand-China friendship had enjoyed a long history and popular support among the two peoples. Thai-Chinese Cultural and Friendship Council aimed to promote cultural exchanges, mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples. This year was the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Thailand and China. The Motorcade Tour was an important part of the celebrations, as well as a concrete activity on promoting the building of the “Belt and Road”.
Mr. Phinij commended the work and achievements of ACC. He expressed the willingness to encourage more communication and practical cooperation in the fields of culture and tourism between Thai-Chinese Cultural and Friendship Council and ACC, so as to further promote in-depth and sustained development of Thailand-China relations and ASEAN-China relations.