HANOI, Vietnam — China’s chief Xi Jinping mentioned nobody wins in a commerce struggle as he kicked off a diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia on Monday, presenting China as a pressure for stability in distinction with U.S. President Donald Trump’s newest strikes on tariffs,
Though Trump has paused some tariffs, he has stored in place 145% duties on China, the world’s second-largest economic system.
“There aren’t any winners in a commerce struggle, or a tariff struggle,” Xi wrote in an editorial collectively revealed in Vietnamese and Chinese language official media. “Our two nations ought to resolutely safeguard the multilateral buying and selling system, steady world industrial and provide chains, and open and cooperative worldwide surroundings.”
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Xi’s go to lets China present Southeast Asia it’s a “accountable superpower in the best way that contrasts with the best way the U.S. underneath President Donald Trump presents to the entire world,” mentioned Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
Whereas Trump has mentioned he respects Xi, he interpreted the assembly between the 2 Asian leaders as an indication they had been making an attempt to place the U.S. at a drawback on commerce.
Speaking to reporters within the Oval Workplace, Trump mentioned China and Vietnam had been attempting “to determine how will we screw the US of America.”
Xi was greeted on the tarmac by Vietnam’s President Luong Cuong in the beginning of his two-day go to, a mark of honor not typically given to guests, mentioned Nguyen Thanh Trung, a professor of Vietnamese research at Fulbright College Vietnam. College students of a drum artwork group carried out as girls waved the crimson and yellow Chinese language and Communist Get together flags.
Whereas Xi’s journey seemingly was deliberate earlier, it has turn into important due to the tariff battle between China and the U.S. The go to gives 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 Get together Normal Secretary To Lam, his counterpart. “Within the face of turmoil and disruption within the present world context, China and Vietnam’s dedication to peaceable growth, and deepening of friendship and cooperation and has introduced the world worthwhile stability and certainty,” he mentioned.
He additionally met with Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The 2 sides signed a sequence of memorandums in areas together with strengthening cooperation in provide chains, railroad growth and environmental safety, in line with Related Press footage of the signed paperwork.
Nhan Dan, the official mouthpiece of Vietnam’s Communist Get together, mentioned that China and Vietnam will velocity up a $8 billion railway challenge connecting the 2 nations 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 essential to China,” mentioned Huong Le-Thu of the Worldwide Disaster Group assume tank. She mentioned that given the severity of Trump’s tariffs and regardless of the 90-day pause, Southeast Asian nations had been anxious that the tariffs, if carried out, may complicate their growth.
Vietnam is skilled at balancing its relations with the usand China. It’s run underneath a communist, one-party system like China however has had a robust relationship with the U.S.
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In 2023, it was the one nation that obtained each U.S. President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping. That 12 months it additionally upgraded the U.S. to its highest diplomatic degree, the identical as China and Russia.
Vietnam was one of many greatest beneficiaries of nations attempting to decouple their provide chains from China, as companies moved right here. China is its greatest buying and selling associate, and China-Vietnam commerce surged 14.6% year-on-year in 2024, in line with 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 tariffs from Trump,” mentioned Nguyen Khac Giang, an analyst at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute, noting that Xi visited twice within the decade after he turned president in 2013. However he has visited Vietnam twice extra up to now two years.
However the intensification of the commerce struggle has put Vietnam in a “very precarious scenario” given the impression within the U.S. that Vietnam is serving as a backdoor for Chinese language items, mentioned Giang. Vietnam had been hit with 46% tariffs underneath 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 predicted to go to Malaysia subsequent after which Cambodia.
—Wu reported from Bangkok. Related Press journalists Hau Dinh and Josh Boak contributed to this report.
