The volume of bilateral trade between China and Thailand has kept rising in the past decades. When they established diplomatic relations in 1975, the two geographically close countries only had a bilateral trade volume of some 24.62 million US dollars. Since then, the signing of bilateral trade agreements in 1978 has provided a sound foundation for the development of Sino-Thai bilateral trade.

In the first nine months of 2002, bilateral trade volume reached 6.04 billion dollars, increasing 17.7 percent over the same period of the previous year. The total bilateral trade volume in 2002 is expected to top 8 billion dollars. Thailand is China's 16th largest trade partner, the 3rd largest among China's trade partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

The Sino-Thai trade relations did experience stagnation after the Asian financial crisis broke out in 1997. At that time, China's export to Thailand fell by a big margin. In 1998, the total bilateral trade volume was only 3.56 billion dollars. In the same year, China's exports to Thailand dropped by 23.5 percent over the same period of last year, while its imports from Thailand rose 19.8 percent.

In 1999, the bilateral trade volume increased to 4.22 billion dollars and gained momentum thereafter, keeping constantly growing for four years. The two countries' bilateral trade volume jumped to 6.63 billion dollars in the year of 2000.

Now, Sino-Thai trade and cooperation have covered various fields. China's exports to Thailand include machinery equipment, textile products, computers and their parts, iron and steel, electronic equipment and electricity, industrial and chemical products and medical products. From Thailand, China has imported computers and their parts, integrated circuits and micro-electronic module, natural rubber, rice and liquid petroleum.

As early as 1985, the two governments signed an agreement on establishing a Sino-Thai economic association cooperative committee and an agreement on protecting investment. The two agreements have created favorable conditions for bilateral cooperation and investment.

By 2001, Chinese enterprises have owned more than 230 joint ventures or enterprises in Thailand, and the total Chinese investment in Thailand reached 223 million dollars.

Chinese investment to Thailand has focused on small and medium-sized enterprises, covering the light industry, textile, rubber, chemical industry, food processing and nonferrous metal smelting. China also has investment in Thailand's bank, insurance, trade, hotel, restaurant, and real estate.

Thai investment to China has kept growing too. By the end of 2001, the Chinese government has approved over 3,000 projects invested by Thai enterprises. Agreements on these projects involved 5 billion dollars, while the direct investment was more than 2 billion dollars. Thai investment in China includes feed production, breeding, food processing, motorcycle, paper and construction material production, and electric power.

The two governments and the Thai royal family have also attached importance to the two nations' cultural cooperation and exchange. In 1996, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the Thai Education Ministry signed the Memorandum of Understanding and Cooperation on Sino-Thai Cultural Exchange.

In 2001, the two governments signed the Agreements on Sino-Thai Cultural Cooperation. The two documents have push forward the two countries cultural exchange and cooperation. A survey shows that since the two countries established diplomatic relations, cultural exchange projects between China and Thailand had leaped from four to about 300 by the end of 2001. Now, the Thai and Chinese people have expanded their exchanges in the fields of arts, religion, sports and social sciences through various kinds of channels.

(Xinhua News Agency January 22, 2003)