Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (front) arrives in Hanoi, Vietnam, Dec. 20, 2011, to start his official visit to Vietnam. (Xinhua/Li Xueren)

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping's just-concluded official visits to Vietnam and Thailand proved to be a major diplomatic move meant to strengthen China's relations with countries in the neighboring region, a senior Chinese diplomat said Saturday.

The visits were of great significance to promoting and making closer China's relations of strategic partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and consolidating and developing China's good-neighborly foreign relations with the neighboring region, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun said.

Xi's visits have opened a new chapter for China's traditional friendship with Vietnam and Thailand and boosted mutual benefit and win-win cooperation oriented toward the future, Zhang said upon the conclusion of Xi's tour to the two Southeast Asian countries.

Aiming to strengthen the good-neighborly ties, enhance strategic mutual trust and advance pragmatic cooperation, Xi met with leaders of governments, parliaments and political parties of the two countries, and exchanged views with them on bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concern in a candid and friendly atmosphere, Zhang said.

During his visits, Xi, together with Vietnamese and Thai leaders, jointly attended the signing ceremonies of bilateral cooperation documents in various fields, further deepening the bilateral pragmatic cooperation.

Xi also met with many friends and representatives of Chinese enterprises, students and embassy staff members in the two countries and encouraged them to contribute more to stronger friendship and cooperation between China and the two countries.

Zhang also said that both Vietnam and Thailand highly valued and warmly welcomed Xi's visits. Xi met with their top government and party leaders, which fully demonstrated their warm welcome to Xi's arrival and the traditional friendship between the peoples of the two countries.