HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — China’s chief Xi Jinping stated nobody wins in a commerce struggle as he kicked off a diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia on Monday, presenting China as a drive for stability in distinction with U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest tariffs moves.
Though Trump has paused some tariffs, he has saved in place 145% duties on China, the world’s second-largest financial system.
“There aren’t any winners in a commerce struggle, or a tariff struggle,” Xi wrote in an editorial collectively printed in Vietnamese and Chinese language official media. “Our two international locations ought to resolutely safeguard the multilateral buying and selling system, steady international industrial and provide chains, and open and cooperative worldwide surroundings.”
Xi’s go to lets China present Southeast Asia it’s a “accountable superpower in the way in which that contrasts with the way in which the U.S. beneath President Donald Trump presents to the entire world,” stated Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
Xi was greeted on the tarmac by Vietnam’s President Luong Cuong at the beginning of his two-day go to, a mark of honor not typically given to guests, stated Nguyen Thanh Trung, a professor of Vietnamese research at Fulbright College Vietnam. College students of a drum artwork group carried out as ladies waved the crimson and yellow Chinese language and Communist Celebration flags.
Whereas Xi’s journey possible was deliberate earlier, it has turn out to be important due to the tariff battle between China and the U.S. The go to provides a path for Beijing to shore up its alliances and discover options for the excessive commerce barrier that the U.S. has imposed on Chinese language exports.
In Hanoi, Xi met with Vietnam’s Communist Celebration Common Secretary To Lam, his counterpart. “Within the face of turmoil and disruption within the present international context, China and Vietnam’s dedication to peaceable growth, and deepening of friendship and cooperation and has introduced the world precious stability and certainty,” he stated.
He additionally met with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The 2 sides signed a collection of memorandums, whose particulars weren’t made public. Nhan Dan, the official mouthpiece of Vietnam’s Communist Celebration, stated that China and Vietnam will velocity up a $8 billion railway challenge connecting the 2 international locations in a deal that was permitted in February.
Xi’s go to sends a message to the area
The timing of the go to sends a “robust political message that Southeast Asia is necessary to China,” stated Huong Le-Thu of the Worldwide Disaster Group suppose tank. She stated that given the severity of Trump’s tariffs and regardless of the 90-day pause, Southeast Asian nations have been anxious that the tariffs, if applied, may complicate their growth.
Vietnam is skilled at balancing its relations with the united statesand China. It’s run beneath a communist, one-party system like China however has had a robust relationship with the U.S.
In 2023, it was the one nation that acquired each U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping. That yr it additionally upgraded the U.S. to its highest diplomatic stage, the identical as China and Russia.
Vietnam was one of many greatest beneficiaries of nations making an attempt to decouple their provide chains from China, as companies moved right here. China is its greatest buying and selling companion, and China-Vietnam commerce surged 14.6% year-on-year in 2024, in response to Chinese language state media.
That commerce relationship goes each methods.
“The journey to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia is all about how China can actually insulate itself in opposition to the from Trump,” stated Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, declaring that since Xi turned the president in 2013, he has solely visited Vietnam twice.
However the intensification of the commerce struggle has put Vietnam in a “very precarious state of affairs” given the impression within the U.S. that Vietnam is serving as a backdoor for Chinese language items, stated Giang. Vietnam had been hit with 46% tariffs beneath Trump’s order earlier than the 90-day pause.
China and Vietnam have actual long-term variations, together with territorial disputes within the South China Sea, the place Vietnam has confronted off with China’s coast guard however doesn’t typically publicize the confrontations.
After Vietnam, Xi is anticipated to go to Malaysia subsequent after which Cambodia.
Wu reported from Bangkok. AP video journalist Hau Dinh contributed to this report.
