Turning Friendship into Power: Redefining “Thailand-China Family Ties” in the New Era
Editor’s Note: In the third article, Wirun Phichaiwongphakdee examines the evolving nature of Thailand-China relations. Moving beyond the historical sentiment of “Thailand and China are as close as one family,” he discusses how the current generation can transform this deep-rooted friendship into a driving force for industrial cooperation, particularly in emerging sectors like new energy vehicles and digital economy.
In 2025, Thailand and China celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations. During that year, I attended many events marking this important anniversary and had the opportunity to meet and interview many people of the older generation who had spent decades building friendship between our two countries. Mr. Phinij, Ms. Sudarat, and Mr. Korn are among those people. Their own lives have unfolded alongside the story of Thailand-China relations over the past 50 years.
For some time, I tried to answer a seemingly simple question: Who first said that “Thailand and China are as close as one family”? I searched through many records, but never found a definite answer. Then, I watched Dear You, a film about Chinese people who went overseas in search of a better life and eventually turned a foreign land into a place they could call home.
That was when I began to see the answer differently. Perhaps “Thailand and China are as close as one family” was never coined by a single person. It was written by generations of people through the lives they lived. It was written by earlier generations of Chinese who crossed the seas and made their homes in Thailand. It was written through all the years that Thai and Chinese people have worked together. And it was written by family after family, generation after generation, until their individual stories became a shared belief.
Now it is our generation’s turn to answer a new question. The generations before us have entrusted us with the legacy of “Thailand and China are as close as one family.” What will we leave to those who come after us?
For me, the answer is shared development.
Today, when we walk through the streets of Bangkok, alongside more Chinese tourists, we are also seeing more Chinese new energy vehicles (NEVs). Chinese NEV companies are investing in Thailand, and growing numbers of young Thais are building careers in NEVs, the digital economy, artificial intelligence (AI), clean energy, and advanced manufacturing. At the same time, Thailand and China are becoming increasingly connected through industrial and supply chains.
President Xi Jinping has on many occasions spoken of extending the benefits of Chinese modernization to neighboring countries. Thailand-China industrial cooperation is, in my view, a vivid example of what that means in practice. China’s development is bringing new technologies, investment, and industries, while opening up new opportunities for Thailand as it advances its own modernization.
We need to turn the warmth of friendship into the courage to explore the future together, and turn the strengths of both sides into the power to build a shared home. This, I believe, captures both the original spirit of “Thailand and China are as close as one family” and what that bond should mean in a new era. The older generation gave us a deep and lasting friendship. Our responsibility is to make that friendship a driving force for shared development.
(If you have specific expertise, or would like to share your thoughts, please send us your writings at CAobservation@outlook.com)
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