Chinese President Xi Jinping called for stronger cooperation with Vietnam in industrial and supply chains, as he arrived in the Hanoi for the first leg of a Southeast Asia tour. Xi will visit Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia as Beijing sets to reinforce regional ties amid a trade war unleased by his US counterpart Donald Trump.
Chinese leaderXi Jinpingwarned Monday that protectionism "leads nowhere" and that atrade warwould have "no winners", state media said, as he was due to kick off a tour of Southeast Asia with a visit to Vietnam.
Xi's first overseas trip of the year will see him visitVietnam,MalaysiaandCambodiaas Beijing seeks to tighten regionaltradeties and offset the impact ofhuge tariffs unleashedby his US counterpartDonald Trump.
He will meet his three Southeast Asian counterparts on a tour that "bears major importance" for the broader region, Beijing has said.
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.
He also reiterated Beijing's line that a "trade war and tariff war will produce no winner, and protectionism will lead nowhere", the agency added.
Beijingis trying to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic Trump,who announced--and then mostly reversed-- sweepingtariffsthis month that sent global markets into a tailspin.
'Bamboo diplomacy'
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.
And firming up ties with Southeast Asian neighbours could also help offset the impact from a closed United States, the largest single recipient of Chinese goods last year.
Xi will be in Vietnam on Monday and Tuesday, his first trip there since December 2023
Vietnam and China, both ruled by communist parties, already share a "comprehensive strategic partnership", Hanoi's highest diplomatic status.
Vietnam has long pursued a "bamboodiplomacy" approach -- striving to stay on good terms with both China and the United States.
The two countries have close economic ties, but Hanoi shares US concerns about Beijing's increasing assertiveness in the contestedSouth China Sea.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea as its own, but this is disputed by thePhilippines, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei.
The Chinese leader in his Monday article insisted Beijing and Hanoi could resolve those disputes through dialogue.
"We should properly manage differences and safeguardpeaceand stability in our region," Xi wrote, according to Xinhua.
"With vision, we are fully capable of properly settling maritime issues through consultation and negotiation," he said.
After Vietnam, Xi will visit Malaysia from Tuesday to Thursday.
Malaysian Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil said Xi's visit was "part of the government's efforts... to see better trade relations with various countries including China".
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.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
Originally published on France24
