On June 21, 2012, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao met with his Bhutanese counterpart, Jigmi Y. Thinley, in Rio de Janeiro.

Wen said China and Bhutan, as neighbors linked by mountains and rivers, enjoy time-honored ties in history and culture and have maintained friendly exchanges. Wen said China highly appreciates Bhutan's staunch support of China's position on major issues concerning Taiwan and Tibet. China, Wen said, also values the traditional friendship between the two nations and respects Bhutan's choice for its development path according to its own national conditions. Noting that China pursues a foreign policy of building a good-neighborly relationship and partnership with its neighbors, Wen said China is ready to forge formal diplomatic relations with Bhutan on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence. Meanwhile, Wen said, China is willing to complete border demarcation with Bhutan at an early date and strengthen exchanges in various fields so as to push bilateral ties to a higher level.

For his part, Thinley said his talks with Wen carry great historic significance as it marks the first meeting between the heads of the two governments. The Bhutanese, he said, admire the great achievements China has made and highly appreciate China's endeavor to safeguard the common interests of developing countries in international and regional affairs. Bhutan firmly sticks to the one-China policy and has strong desire to strengthen understanding of and friendship with China, Thinley said. He confirmed that Bhutan wishes to forge formal diplomatic ties with China as soon as possible. Bhutan is willing to settle border issues with China in a cooperative manner, enhance bilateral economic and trade cooperation and people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and carry out close communication and coordination in international and regional affairs, said Thinley.