BEIJING -- Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with visiting King Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua of the Kingdom of Thailand here on Friday.

China and Thailand are as close as family, Li said, adding China is willing to maintain high-level exchanges with Thailand, consolidate good-neighborly friendship, firmly support each other, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, to achieve more results in building a China-Thailand community with a shared future and better benefit the two peoples.

Highlighting the complementary nature of the two economies, the Chinese premier said China stands ready to continue to expand the scale of bilateral trade and two-way investment with Thailand, and expand cooperation in emerging fields such as green economy, artificial intelligence and aerospace.

Given their geographical proximity and cultural affinity, it would be opportune for China and Thailand to deepen exchanges and cooperation in such fields as culture and tourism to lay a solid foundation for friendship between the two peoples, Li said.

Noting that Thailand and China have a profound traditional friendship, the Thai king said bilateral cooperation in various fields has produced fruitful results and enjoys broad prospects.

Thailand highly appreciates the tremendous achievements China has made in economic and social development in recent years, and is willing to strengthen friendly exchanges with China, deepen pragmatic cooperation, and move forward hand in hand on the path of common development, he added.