DgcityChina announced on Wednesday that Premier Li Qiang will pay an official visit to Thailand from November 13 to 15 before traveling to Manila for the 29th China-ASEAN Summit, the region’s premier annual gathering, at a moment of sharp friction with host country the Philippines.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Beijing wants to use the summit, scheduled for November 15 to 16, to deepen solidarity with ASEAN members and push for the early entry into force of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area 3.0 upgrade protocol, signed last year.
The upgraded pact extends a trade relationship already worth close to $1 trillion a year into new areas including the digital economy, green economy, supply-chain connectivity, standards and support for small and medium-sized enterprises. ASEAN and China have been each other’s largest trading partner for years, and the region accounts for a large share of China’s manufacturing supply chains.
Guo said China also wanted to expand cooperation on artificial intelligence, energy security, connectivity and poverty reduction. This year is the fifth anniversary of the China-ASEAN comprehensive strategic partnership, which Beijing has described as the most important regional relationship in its diplomacy.
The meeting will nonetheless be shadowed by disputes in the South China Sea. China and the Philippines have traded angry rhetoric for weeks over collisions and confrontations between their vessels, and China’s defense minister skipped a meeting of regional defense chiefs in Manila last month. Wang Yi recently urged the Philippines to rein in politicians he accused of crossing Beijing’s red lines.
U.S. President Donald Trump, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney are also expected in Manila for the broader East Asia summit program, giving Li a rare opportunity for side meetings on the eve of the APEC leaders’ gathering that China will host in Shenzhen the following week.
The Bangkok stop is no less important. Thailand is one of China’s oldest partners in Southeast Asia and a key participant in the Lancang-Mekong cooperation framework, where the two countries coordinate on river management, cross-border crime and infrastructure. Meetings with Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul are expected to cover tourism recovery, supply-chain links and a planned high-speed railway that will eventually connect southern China through Laos to the Thai capital.
