China’s Xi to visit South-east Asia as trade conflict with US widens
Chinese President Xi Jinping will begin a three-nation tour of South-east Asia next week, his first overseas trip in 2025, aiming to consolidate ties with some of China’s closest neighbours as trade tension escalates with the US.
Mr Xi will visit Vietnam from April 14 to 15, and Malaysia and Cambodia from April 15 to 18, state-run Xinhua news agency said on April 11, after the Chinese President pledged this week to deepen “all-round cooperation” with China’s neighbours.
Hit with 145 per cent US tariffs since US President Donald Trump took office in 2025, China is moving quickly to strengthen ties with other countries lying in the shadow of Washington’s damaging trade levies.
Some countries hit by Mr Trump’s reciprocal tariffs – such as Cambodia, facing duties of 49 per cent; Vietnam, subject to a barrier of 46 per cent; and Malaysia, tackling a tariff of 24 per cent – have already begun reaching out to the US to seek a reprieve.
That leaves China an outlier in two-way talks as tension runs high with Washington.
The rare trips are a high-profile personal diplomatic effort by Mr Xi, who last visited Cambodia nine years ago and Malaysia 12 years ago, though his last visit to Vietnam was more recent, in December 2023.
China and Vietnam are expected to sign about 40 agreements on April 14, two Vietnamese officials said, including some on rail links. Both sources sought anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.
Vietnam has approached China for funding and technology to develop its railway network, with previous high-level visits by their officials often including deals on railway cooperation.
One of the sources said defence and police ministries would also sign pacts, but it was unclear if these would be binding and include financial commitments. Most agreements signed on past state visits have not been binding.
Xinhua said it would issue articles on Mr Xi’s visit to South-east Asia, on topics such as how “flowing water cannot be severed” between China and Malaysia, and also featuring Mr Xi and his “ironclad friends” from Cambodia.
In the days before and after Mr Trump’s reciprocal tariffs took effect on April 9 – most of them since paused, except for those on China – Beijing had already started to persuade global regional blocs to hew to a common line against the punitive US tariffs.
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao held video telephone calls with counterparts from the European Union and Malaysia, as well as Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
This week, Premier Li Qiang spoke by phone to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, in talks that emphasised the responsibility of both parties to support a “strong reformed trading system, free, fair and founded on a level playing field”.
Reuters – April 11, 2025