After being hit with steep tariffs by President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping is stepping up his diplomatic outreach in Southeast Asia, hoping to shore up economic alliances and position China as a more reliable trade partner than the United States.
Xi's multi-country trip includes stops in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia — three nations negotiating with the US for lower tariffs on their exports.
At the same time, each country relies heavily on trade with China, leaving them to straddle a diplomatic line between two economic giants.
What's Xi Jinping doing in the region?
Xi's first stop was in Vietnam, where he met with the country's top leader, To Lam. The pair announced dozens of new agreements and pledged deeper cooperation in supply chains, green technology, and artificial intelligence.
"There are no winners in trade wars and tariff wars," Xi said in an article in Nhan Dan, the newspaper of Vietnam's Communist Party, ahead of his arrival on Monday.
China has invested heavily in Vietnam in recent years, especially as manufacturers have relocated from China to avoid earlier rounds of US tariffs during Trump's first term. Despite this, tensions persist between the two over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.
Next up, Xi will visit Malaysia, which regards China as one of their largest trading partners. Malaysia is also facing a 24 per cent reciprocal tariff from the US, slightly lower than Vietnam's 46 per cent.
On his final stop, Xi will head to Cambodia, which has been hit with a whopping 49 per cent tariff by the US. Cambodia is a staunch Chinese ally with deep military ties and a Chinese-dominated manufacturing sector. Half of the factories in Cambodia are Chinese-owned, and the two countries have a free trade agreement.
Xi last visited Cambodia and Malaysia nine and 12 years ago, respectively.
What's behind the timing?
Xi's tour comes as China faces tariffs of up to 145 per cent from the US.
Amid growing economic uncertainty, he is pitching China as a steady, long-term partner at a time when the US's trade policy looks unpredictable.
As Trump's trade war continues to rattle global markets, Xi is likely making a clear pitch: In uncertain times, it pays to bet on China.
