HANOI: Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned on Monday (Apr 14) that protectionism “leads nowhere” and that a trade war would 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 visit Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia as Beijing seeks to tighten regional trade ties and offset the impact of huge tariffs unleashed by his US counterpart Donald 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.
Beijing is trying to present itself as a stable alternative to an erratic Trump, who announced – and then mostly reversed – sweeping tariffs this month that sent global markets into a tailspin.
“BAMBOO DIPLOMACY”
Vietnam was Southeast Asia’s biggest buyer of Chinese goods, with a bill of US$161.9 billion, followed by Malaysia, which imported US$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 “bamboo diplomacy” 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 contested South China Sea.
