Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand meets with Wang Yi

Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand on Sunday met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bangkok.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said he met with Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara on Sunday for the annual consultation, in which both sides reached important consensus on deepening the China-Thailand community with a shared future.

The two sides also signed an agreement on mutual visa exemption, which would further facilitate people-to-people exchanges, Wang said, adding that China and Thailand are as close as one family and more exchanges will bring the two countries even closer.

Noting that the Thai royal family has always attached great importance to the China-Thailand friendship, Wang said he looks forward to the Thai royal family making new contributions to the development of China-Thailand friendship under the new circumstances.

Calling the princess a good and an old friend of the Chinese people, Wang recalled that Princess Sirindhorn was awarded the Medal of Friendship and visited China more than 50 times.

He added the princess played a leading role of deepening the mutual understanding between the two peoples, who can be seen as the symbol of Sino-Thai friendship.

As next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Thailand, Wang also told the princess that China is willing to maintain high-level exchanges with the Thai side, close people-to-people changes, and promote the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries to a new level.

Princess Sirindhorn said she cherishes the friendship with China and often show students the Medal of Friendship.

She voiced hope to work closely with the Chinese side in various fields of communication and exchange, strengthen education, traditional medicine, science and technology, aerospace and other aspects of cooperation.

"China is a vast country, and although I have visited China many times, there are still many places I want to see. I look forward to visiting China again," the princess added.