Hanoi, Vietnam – China’s leader Xi Jinping said that no one wins in a commercial war while a diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia began on Monday, reiterating China’s commitment to global trade in contrast to the president of the United States, Donald Trump. Last tariffs move.
Although Trump has stopped some rates, he has maintained 145% duties in China, the second largest economy in the world.
“There are no winners in a commercial war, or a tariff war,” XI wrote in an editorial published in the official Vietnamese and Chinese media. “Our two countries should resolutely safeguard the multilateral trade system, supply chains and industrial supply and stable supply, and the open and cooperative international environment.”
XI’s visit allows China to show Southeast Asia is a “responsible superpower in the way that contrasts with the way in which the United States under President Donald Trump is presented to everyone,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting member of the Iseas Institute – Yusof Ishak of Singapore.
XI was received in the asphalt by the president of Vietnam, Luong Cuong, at the beginning of his two -day visit, a brand of honor that is not often given to visitors, said Nguyen Thanh Trung, professor of Vietnamese studies at the Fulbright Vietnam University. The students of a battery art group acted while the women stirred the flags of the Chinese and communist yellow parts.
Although XI’s trip was probably planned before, it has become significant due to the tariff fight Between China and the United States The visit offers a path for Beijing to underpin their alliances and find solutions for the high commercial barrier that the United States has imposed on Chinese exports.
In Vietnam, XI will meet with the general secretary of the Vietnam Communist Party for Lam, its counterpart, as well as with Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
“The trip to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia is about how China can really be isolated against Trump,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, noting that since XI became the president in 2013, he has only visited Vietnam twice.
The time of the visit sends a “strong political message that Southeast Asia is important for China,” said Huong Le-Tu of the Expert Group of the International Crisis Group. She said that given the seriousness of Trump’s tariffs and, despite the 90 -day pause, the Southeast Asia nations were anxious that tariffs, if implemented, could complicate their development.
Vietnam has experience in balancing its relations with the United States and China. It runs under a single -party communist system like China, but has had a solid relationship with the United States.
In 2023, it was the only country that received both the president of the United States, Joe Biden and Xi Jinping of China. That year also improved the United States at its highest diplomatic level, as well as China and Russia.
Vietnam was one of the biggest beneficiaries of countries that tried to decouple their supply chains of China, as companies moved here. China is its largest commercial partner, and China-Vietnam’s trade increased 14.6% year-on-year in 2024, according to Chinese state media.
But the intensification of the commercial war has put Vietnam in a “very precarious situation” given the impression in the United States that Vietnam is serving as a back door for Chinese products, Giang said, the Iseas Institute analyst -yusof Ishak of Singapore. Vietnam had been beaten with 46% tariffs under Trump’s order before the 90 -day pause.
China and Vietnam have long -term real differences, including territorial disputes in the Southern China Sea, where Vietnam has faced China’s Coast Guard, but often does not advertise the confrontations.
After Vietnam, XI is expected to go to Malaysia below and then to Cambodia.
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Wu reported from Bangkok.
