China is ready to work with Thailand to further promote their strategic cooperation amidst warm ties between the two neighbors, said Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing in Beijing Friday.

Li, in talks with visiting Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon, described Thailand as one of the closest Southeast Asian nations, saying the two countries have seen effective exchanges and cooperation in various areas.

Li also hailed the 30th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations, and said the two countries are facing new opportunities in the new century.

China is ready to make joint efforts with Thailand to enrich the content of the strategic cooperation between the two countries, Li said.

China and Thailand have maintained vigorous economic and trade cooperation in recent years. In 2004 bilateral trade hit US$17.3 billion; and in the first three months of this year, bilateral trade jumped 25.9 percent year on year to US$4.78 billion, Chinese statistics shows.

Earlier this year, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited China to commemorate the 30th anniversary of bilateral diplomatic relations. The two countries signed a series of cooperative documents covering areas of biological technology, quarantine inspection, environmental protection and financial cooperation.

During the visit, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin and Chinese leaders reached a lot of new consensus aimed at developing strategic cooperation, said Kantathi.

Thailand wants to take the 30th founding anniversary of Thailand-China ties as an opportunity to lift the strategic cooperation to a new height, said Kantathi.

The two foreign ministers also exchanged views on relations between China and ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), the UN reform and the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2005)