Xi’s first overseas trip of the year will see him visit Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia as Beijing seeks to tighten regional trade ties and offset the impact of huge tariffs unleashed by his US counterpart Donald Trump.
Writing in an article published Monday in Vietnam’s major Nhan Dan newspaper, Xi urged the two countries to “resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open and cooperative international environment,“ Beijing’s Xinhua News Agency said.
Beijing is trying to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic Trump, who announced -- and then mostly reversed -- sweeping tariffs this month that sent global markets into a tailspin.
Vietnam was Southeast Asia’s biggest buyer of Chinese goods, with a bill of $161.9 billion, followed by Malaysia, which imported $101.5 billion worth in 2024.
Xi will be in Vietnam on Monday and Tuesday, his first trip there since December 2023
Vietnam has long pursued a “bamboo diplomacy” approach -- striving to stay on good terms with both China and the United States.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea as its own, but this is disputed by the Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei.
“We should properly manage differences and safeguard peace and stability in our region,“ Xi wrote, according to Xinhua.
After Vietnam, Xi will visit Malaysia from Tuesday to Thursday.
Xi will then travel on Thursday to Cambodia, one of China’s staunchest allies in Southeast Asia and where Beijing has extended its influence in recent years.
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