BEIJING -- Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, replied on Thursday to Laos' top leader Thongloun Sisoulith to designate 2026 as the Year of China-Laos Friendship.

In the letter, Xi also joined Thongloun, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and Lao president, in announcing the launch of a series of events of celebration in the friendship year.