Ｆｏｒｍｅｒ Ｔｈａｉ Ｐｒｉｍｅ Ｍｉｎｉｓｔｅｒ Ｇｅｎ． Ｃｈａｖａｌｉｔ Ｙｏｎｇｃｈａｉｙｕｄｈ Ｖｉｓｉｔｓ Ｃｈｉｎａ

Gen. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh， former Thai prime minister， and his party visited China from January 14 to 17， 2006 at the invitation of the CPAFFC. Jia Qinglin， chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and Hui Liangyu， vice premier of the State Council， met with the delegation. Cao Gangchuan， vice chairman of the Central Military Commission and state councillor， Chen Haosu， CPAFFC president， Tian Qiyu， president of the Police Association of China and Liang Shi， vice president of the China Association for International Friendly Contact， met with the delegation and hosted banquets in its honour.

Chairman Jia Qinglin said when meeting with Gen. Chavalit， Thailand is a close neighbour and the most reliable friend of China. Sino-Thai relations have maintained a good momentum of development despite the changes in international situation. The two countries have achieved remarkable results in cooperation in all fields. At critical moments， they understand each other and share weal and woe. The bilateral relations are an example of China’s relations with its neighbouring countries. China wishes to work together with Thailand to advance the Sino-Thai strategic cooperation. Gen. Chavalit said， the Thai-Chinese Culture and Economy Association he founded in 1993 has played the role of a bridge in cooperation between the people of the two countries over the years. Though he is no longer holding any post in the Association， he will continue to do what he can to promote friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation between Thailand and China.

When meeting with Gen. Chavalit Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said， Sino-Thai relationship is an all-weather and all-dimensional friendship. The leaders of the two countries have kept frequent exchanges of visits and contact. The two countries have supported each other in international affairs and trusted each other politically. They have witnessed ever increasing expansion of economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people exchanges. The saying “China and Thailand are like one family” has become the common aspiration of the two peoples. The Vice Premier reviewed the achievements China has won since reform and opening up， pointed out the major problems in its present economic development and briefed the guests on the policies of the Chinese Government on poverty reduction. Gen. Chavalit said that the Thai Government and people were proud of China’s achievements in its national construction， expressed his appreciation and admiration of the Chinese Government’s efforts for poverty alleviation， and hoped that Thailand and China would enhance cooperation in this area.

During their meeting， Defence Minister Cao Gangchuan and the guests happily recalled the profound friendship forged in cooperation between the armed forces of the two countries and hoped that they would increase exchanges， especially enhance friendship and cooperation between their young officers.

On poverty reduction， Gen. Chavalit said， poverty is the root cause of all problems. As the chairman of the Thailand Poverty Alleviation Committee， he wants to change the former poverty alleviation policy and adopt a new thinking， that is the Central Government transfers power to the local governments which will draw up poverty reduction plans according to the actual local conditions while the Central Government provides financial support. He noted， the poverty reduction work of Thailand should be conducted in conjunction with promoting prosperity of the region. Only by achieving common prosperity of the region can the problem of poverty in Thailand be truly resolved. Thailand is ready to boost the development of the Irrawaddy River， Maenam River and Mekong River valleys within the region.