Chinese President Xi Jinping kicked off a tour of Southeast Asia in Vietnam on Sunday, underscoring Beijing's commitment to global trade, just after US President Donald Trump rattled the global economy with his latest tariff moves.
Although Trump has paused new tariffs for a large number of countries, he has left those for China, the world's second-largest economy, at 145 percent.
Xi's visit allows China to show Southeast Asia that it is a responsible superpower in contrast to the way the United States presents itself to the world under President Donald Trump, said Nguyen Khak Giang, a researcher at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
China can work to strengthen alliances and find solutions to the high tariff barrier that the US has placed on its exports.
“There are no winners in a trade war, or a tariff war,” Xi wrote in an editorial published in Vietnamese and Chinese official media. “Our two countries should firmly safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and an open and cooperative international environment,” Xi said.
He arrived in Hanoi at the start of a two-day visit to Vietnam.
Although Xi's trip was likely planned earlier, it became significant due to the tariff war between China and the US, the world's two largest economies.
In Vietnam, Xi will meet with General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam To Lam and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
Researcher Nguyen suggested that Xi's trip to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia is about how China can isolate itself from Trump.
The travel time sends a strong political message that Southeast Asia is important to China, said Huong Le-Tu of the International Crisis Group. She said that given the scale of Trump's tariffs and despite the 90-day pause, Southeast Asian countries are concerned that the tariffs, if implemented, could complicate their development.
She said Xi's trip was designed to show how China is different from the self-interested United States, and that there will be expectations about what kind of leadership and initiatives China will have in this time of crisis.
Vietnam has experience balancing relations with the United States and China. It is run by a communist one-party system like China but has strong ties with the United States, writes the AP agency.
China is Vietnam's largest trading partner, and Sino-Vietnamese trade grew 14,6 percent year-on-year in 2024, according to Chinese state media.
But the escalating trade war has put Vietnam in a very precarious position given the perception in the US that Vietnam serves as a secondary outlet for Chinese goods, analysts said.
Trump imposed 46 percent tariffs on Vietnam before declaring a 90-day pause in the implementation of that decision.
China and Vietnam have differences and disputes, including over territory in the South China Sea. Vietnam has had clashes with the Chinese coast guard, but does not often publish details of those confrontations.
After Vietnam, Xi is scheduled to go to Malaysia and Cambodia.
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