By Liz Lee
BEIJING (Reuters) -Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday rolled out the red carpet for the first Thai monarch to visit China since ties were established 50 years ago as Beijing seized the chance to portray itself as a benevolent neighbour and reliable economic partner.
The arrival of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida and a visit earlier this week by Spain’s King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia have been depicted by Chinese media as the outcome of friendly coexistence and a signal to other nations that China is a reliable partner, in stark contrast to the economic unease set off by U.S. President Donald Trump and his sharp tariff hikes this year.
Bilateral ties have evolved significantly since Thailand, firmly aligned with the United States against communism during the Cold War, viewed China as a threat. Vajiralongkorn travelled to China once in 1987 as Crown Prince, sent by his father, who never visited despite invitations from Beijing.
Since the post-Cold War years, the relationship between the two countries has strengthened, anchored by deep trade and investment links. China is now a top source of visitors for Thailand’s vital tourism sector and a major investor in industries such as automobiles. From China, Thailand bought $80 billion of goods last year.
“The visit gives China a chance not only to reaffirm its closeness with the (Thai) Kingdom, but also to signal its continued regional relevance at a time when U.S. influence is visibly receding,” said Juliette Loesch, a researcher at Paris-based Inalco.
“It comes just two weeks after Donald Trump’s brief stop at the ASEAN Summit, where his visit’s only visible outcome was his role in overseeing the signing of the short-lived peace declaration between Thailand and Cambodia. By contrast, China announced the deepening of its free-trade agreement with ASEAN.”
In an editorial, China’s official Xinhua news agency portrayed historical trade and exchanges with Thailand from thousands of years ago as a basis on which future bilateral ties should be built.
“Before the large-scale entry of Western colonists, most of Thailand’s foreign trade was sold to China,” Xinhua said on Thursday, listing Thai rice, spices and tin ore traded for Chinese porcelain, silk, tea and ironware.
A few years before diplomatic ties were formed, Thailand had also sent table tennis players for a championship in China and Beijing provided cheaper crude oil in 1974 to help Bangkok tide over economic difficulties, Xinhua said.
(Reporting by Liz Lee; Writing by Ryan Woo; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Saad Sayeed)
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