Chinese business leaders are committed to investing in Asean and plan to use Thailand as their regional investment hub despite the recent market crash here, says the Chinese-Thai Enterprise Association.
Chairman Zhang Lei said investing in Asean was in line with the Chinese government's One Belt, One Road development strategy and framework proposed in late 2013.
Also known as the Belt and Road Initiative, it focuses on connectivity and cooperation among countries primarily in Eurasia.
Mr Zhang said investment could be financed partly by the new Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and include infrastructure networks covering roads, railways and coastal ports.
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One proposed project is a rail line running from southern China's Yunnan province through Laos, Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore, with Indonesia a short trip away.
The Chinese government last November announced a US$40-billion Silk Road Fund for the initiative.
"Under our plan, Thailand will be a centre among Asean members for our infrastructure investments," Mr Zhang said. "Given the strong support of the Chinese government for outbound investment, we're confident we will become a major foreign investor in Thailand."
Mr Zhang was speaking at an event in Bangkok hosted by the association and marking the 40th anniversary of business, trade and investment ties between the two countries.
In the first half of this year, Chinese businesses applied for investment privileges from the Board of Investment for 23 projects worth a combined 8.47 billion baht. The baht amount surpassed Japan, Thailand's long-running largest foreign investor, which submitted investment applications for 55 projects worth 6.85 billion baht in the same period.
Yu Ping, vice-president of the China Council for Promotion of International Trade, said China was interested in investing in countries with high potential to become Chinese production bases.
"Apart from geographical reasons, Thais and Chinese have had such a strong relationship in terms of culture, trade and investment for 40 years," he said.
Mr Yu said despite Chinese stock markets this week experiencing their steepest fall since 1996, first-half import value remained high at $806 billion, while exports were a healthy $1.05 trillion.
"From 2011-15, Chinese investment in Thailand was valued at more than 100 billion baht with 200 projects," Mr Yi said. "We believe in the next five years, thanks to One Belt, One Road, that will be a lot higher."
Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong played down China's market situation, saying that country's fifth interest rate cut in nine months and the reduction of the amount of money banks must hold in reserve was aimed at countering slowing growth, not for a currency war.