Senior military officials from China and Thailand met here Tuesday for the eighth Sino-Thai defense and security consultation. Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA)Ma Xiaotian and Thailand's defense Permanent Secretary Gen. Apichart Penkitti co- chaired the consultation. Ma said China and Thailand were close and friendly neighbors sharing high level political trust and mutually beneficial economic cooperation as well as sound cooperation in international and regional affairs. In recent years, leaders of the two armed forces had kept frequent mutual visits, and the two armed forces had made full use of the consultation to conduct multi-level and wide-ranging exchanges, said Ma, adding the practical cooperation between the two sides had steadily intensified. 'China is ready to work with Thailand to raise the bilateral military ties to a new level,' he said. Apichart said the Thai government and armed forces attached great importance to the ties with China, and was expecting to enhance bilateral strategic cooperation in various fields so as to push forward the in-depth development of bilateral military relations. The two armed forces set up the annual defense and security consultation mechanism in 2001. 