A scene of the forum Photo: Zhu Gaolei/CSSN
On March 12, 2025, the China-Laos Think Tank Forum convened in Beijing under the theme “Continuing Friendship, Deepening Cooperation, and Promoting the Construction of the China-Laos Community with a Shared Future under New Circumstances.” Gao Xiang, president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), and Kongkeo Xaysongkham, president of the Lao Academy of Social and Economic Sciences (LASES), attended the forum’s opening ceremony and delivered speeches.
Gao noted that China and Laos, linked by bordering mountains and rivers, are friendly socialist neighbors which support one another and share a common destiny. Since the beginning of the 21st century, under the guiding principles of “long-term stability, good-neighborly friendship, mutual trust, and comprehensive cooperation,” China-Laos relations have seen steady and continuous growth. Their comprehensive strategic partnership is now structured around high-level consensus, centered on implementing the action plan for building a community with a shared future, and anchored by the high-quality joint development of the Belt and Road Initiative as a platform.
As the world’s largest developing country, China is further deepening reform comprehensively and advancing Chinese modernization , while Laos is similarly striving toward socialist modernization. Both the Communist Party of China and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, as well as both nations, face significant opportunities and challenges in their reform and development processes. China remains committed to preserving the profound friendship between the two parties and the two nations, further consolidating strategic mutual trust, continuously deepening pragmatic cooperation, engaging in in-depth exchanges on major theoretical and practical issues in socialist construction, jointly exploring development paths that align with the national conditions of both countries, as well as promoting the sustained and steady construction of a China-Laos community with a shared future.
Gao emphasized that exchanges between think tanks constitute an important aspect of people-to-people and cultural cooperation between China and Laos. CASS is committed to using think tank cooperation as a vehicle to deepen exchanges with the Lao academic community across multiple levels and fields. These exchanges, focused on the joint construction of the Belt and Road, sustainable development goals under the Lancang-Mekong cooperation framework, national modernization, as well as the transmission of historical and cultural heritage, aim to promote in-depth thematic studies, share development experiences, gather wisdom and consensus, as well as facilitate the generation of more policy recommendations that address the development needs of both countries. This will ensure that the cooperation yields greater benefits for all, fosters closer ties between them, and injects strong momentum into the sustained, stable, and healthy development of China-Laos relations.
Kongkeo Xaysongkham affirmed that Laos and China share common ideals, beliefs, and social systems, along with similar development paths, and that China’s successful modernization efforts offer valuable insights. Cooperation between LASES and CASS—both influential think tanks and research institutions in their respective countries—contributes to strengthening the social foundation of Laos-China friendship and plays a crucial role in fostering enduring friendship and mutual understanding between their peoples. This forum, focused on promoting the construction of the Laos-China community with a shared future under new circumstances, provides an opportunity for participating scholars to share research findings and engage in in-depth discussions on relevant topics, thereby contributing to the steady and long-term development of the Laos-China community with a shared future in the new era.
Experts and scholars from China and Laos participated in the forum, engaging in in-depth exchanges on topics such as cooperation between the Communist Party of China and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party, Chinese modernization, and building a community with a shared future for mankind.
Participants agree that China-Laos relations are currently at their best point in history, with the depth and breadth of bilateral cooperation continuously expanding. In October 2023, the top leaders of the two parties and countries signed the “Action Plan on Building a China-Laos Community with a Shared Future (2024-2028) between the Communist Party of China and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party ,” which sets a clear direction for further advancing relations between the two parties and countries while opening a new chapter in building the China-Laos community with a shared future. Prioritizing the development of the China-Laos community demonstrates that human destinies are interconnected, the interests of all nations are closely linked, and building a community with a shared future for mankind represents a shared aspiration of people worldwide. In the face of global, epochal, and historical changes, China and Laos need to further strengthen coordination, unity, and cooperation. Together, they should implement the Global Development Initiative, the Global Security Initiative, and the Global Civilization Initiative, uphold shared human values such as peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy, and freedom, and explore paths to human modernization, striving for a better future for humanity.
The forum was co-hosted by CASS and LASES, and jointly organized by the National Institute of International Strategy at CASS, the Academy of Marxism at CASS, and Yunnan Minzu University.