Thai edition of book "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" launched in Thailand

(File pic)

BANGKOK, April 7 (Xinhua) -- The Thai language edition of the book "Xi Jinping: The Governance of China" was released Friday at the parliament building of Thailand.

The book contains 79 speeches, talks, interviews, notes and letters of the Chinese leader between November 2012 to June 2014.

Thai Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said during the release ceremony that Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha had earlier asked his cabinet to read the book.

"I believe that to be a great leader, one has to be a good reader, good thinker, good speaker, good writer and good doer, and I found President Xi has achieved all of them after I finished reading this book," he said.

Wissanu noted that the book is highly valuable for Thailand, a country making its own strategy and reform as a new constitution was promulgated on Thursday.

"The book is very unique as it tells the governance of a country and also President Xi's great insight, foresight, as well as his philosophy of governance," Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, president of the National Legislative Assembly of Thailand, said at the ceremony.

Pornpetch added that it is great that the book is translated into the Thai language as Thai people need to study China, a major economy in the world and a country of long history.

The Thai edition of the book is published by the Matichon Group, and its General Manager Thakoon Boonpan also recommended it to Thais as it will help them understand China better and can apply Xi's thoughts into their real work.

Pinij Jarusombat, chairman of the Thai-Chinese Cultural and Relationship Council, told Xinhua that not only politicians and officials should read the book, but students and all Thais should learn from China through it.

Seubpong Changboonchu, a Chinese language teacher in Chulalongkorn University and translator of the book, said it is worth reading as the book can act as a bridge for Thai-Chinese exchanges.

According to Seubpong, the book was first printed in Thailand in September 2016 and now has been printed twice in the country and has very positive feedback from the market.

The book was already translated into 16 languages and has a distribution of over 6.2 million copies around the world, according to Jiang Jianguo, chief of China's State Council Information Office.

The release ceremony was hosted by the State Council Information Office of China, China Foreign Languages Publishing Administration, the Chinese Embassy and organized by China's Foreign Language Press and Thailand's Matichon.