BANGKOK -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang published an article for the Thai daily Matichon on Friday when he started an official visit to Thailand.

The following is an English translation of the article titled "Hand-in-Hand Toward a Better Future":

Thailand, a beautiful and fascinating country, is known to the world for its captivating landscape, abundant resources and splendid culture. The Thai people lead a life of prosperity. I am coming to Thailand again soon, long after my last trip here, to pay an official visit to this friendly neighbor of China. I wish to convey the warm greetings and best wishes of the Chinese people to our friends in Thailand. I am full of expectations for this visit, and I sincerely hope that the visit will give a strong boost to the traditional China-Thailand friendship and start another brilliant chapter of amity and cooperation between our two countries in a new era.

China and Thailand have been good brothers since ancient times. Back in the Yuan Dynasty, King Ramkhamhaeng the Great invited hundreds of Chinese craftsmen to teach ceramic techniques in Sukhothai and Phitsanulok. By working together, the Chinese and local craftsmen created the exquisite and unique Sangkhalok porcelain, whose beauty has been well-preserved till this day. In the Ming Dynasty, the Ayutthaya Kingdom sent more than 100 delegations to China. Its students even studied at China's Imperial College. Chinese and Thai scholars jointly compiled the early version of the Chinese-Thai dictionary entitled Translations of Siamese. The original copy of the dictionary is still kept at a library in Beijing. On his voyages to the western seas, Chinese navigator Zheng He led his ships northwards along the Chao Phraya River and reached today's Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province. He brought along to the local people Chinese calendar and measuring and weighing instruments as well as agricultural techniques such as the production of solar salt, well-digging and terracing. And he took back home the spices, pepper, paddy rice and fine fruit tree seeds of Thailand. Through those long centuries of exchanges a deep friendship was formed. The ever-growing mutual understanding and goodwill between the two peoples has laid a solid foundation for the sound and steady growth of China-Thailand relations.

Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, the people of China and Thailand have worked closely together and supported each other in times of adversity. Together we tackled the Asian financial crisis and the international financial crisis, upholding economic stability in both our countries and the region at large. Together we fought against the SARS epidemic and bird flu, protecting the health of people of both countries. Together we prevailed over the Indian Ocean tsunamis, earthquakes in China, severe floods in Thailand and other natural disasters, allowing life and work to quickly return to normal in disaster-hit areas.