Time could not be better for the President of China XI Jinping when he ends the trip of three countries in Southeast Asia among the growing tariff pressure of US President Donald Trump.
“This is a very wise move,” said Gil Lan, an associate professor in the Law and Business Department at Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto Metropolitan University.
Five -day visit XI in Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia was trying to support allies and support in the region and present Beijing as a stable, reliable partner following Huge tariffs announced by Trump At the beginning of this month on countries around the world – In this particular high fees in places in Southeast Asia which were on the route of the Chinese leader.
“This is a great opportunity for China to put yourself at the forefront of the world commercial order. And it was an opportunity awarded by you,” said Lan.
The Chinese leader recently visited Cambodia nine years ago and Malaysia 12 years ago.
On April 2, Trump announced 46 percent of the “mutual” tariffs in Vietnam, 24 percent in Malaysia and 49 percent on Cambodia-though in the vicinity of the US President, US president He stopped the 10 percent rate for 90 days.
China, the only protruding values, are in the face of 145 percent of the United States tariffs.
Maintaining a global free trade system
On Monday, Hanoi's first stop XI was welcomed by the Vietnamese President Luong Cong with a special ceremony. According to Statement with Chinese Ministry of Foreign AffairsThe Chinese president said that both countries “strengthen strategic determination, jointly oppose unilateral persecutors, support the global free trade system and maintains stable global global industrial chains and deliveries.”
“He received the highest level of VIP greeting that they could afford,” said Ben Bland, director of the Asia and Pacific program at Chatham House, London's Think Tank.
For Bland, time is “quite useful” because the US looks “very unilateral, even forced”.
China and Vietnam expressed support for the maintenance of a multilateral trade system focused around the World Trade Organization, in a joint statement issued on Tuesday at the end of the two -day visit of the Chinese president XI Jinping.
“Xi Jinping can present China's face as reliable, reliable, open and honest in its dialogue with partners, despite this own achievements related to compulsory behavior towards Southeast Asia, ironically – he said.
At the second stop XI and Prime Minister Malaysia Anwar Ibrahim, this year's chairman Association of Southeast Asia Nations (Asean), they were It is expected to discuss a free trade agreement According to reports between China and a group of 10.
XI Cambodia was the last stopArriving on Thursday in Phnom Penh to a warm welcome to the head of the King of the State of Sihamoni on the 50th anniversary of April 17, 1975, the takeover of Cambodia by communist Khmer Rouge.
XI also met the prime minister of Cambodia Hun Manet. In addition to discussions on strengthening bilateral ties and regional and international issues, several contracts are expected to be signed on cooperation in various sectors.
Trump answered the question about the trip XI in Southeast Asia in an oval office on Monday, during a double -sided meeting with the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele.
“This is a wonderful meeting. We meet, trying to find out:” How to fuck the United States of America? ” – he said.
Trade and infrastructure
Chinese diplomacy in Southeast Asia has been going on for decades. It was like that ASEAN's largest trade partner Since 2009, in 2024, China -sean trade was priced at USD 998 billion.
To get a better sense of growing economic ties, trade between ASEAN and China has doubled in 2010–2019 and four times since the establishment of ASEAN-China trade in a goods agreement in 2005.
But not only the latest visit of the 11th or trade ties signal the strengthening relationship in the region. For LAN Toronto Metropolitan University, foreign direct investment is also an indicator.
In the last decade, China has spent billions of dollars on the construction of infrastructure projects under their own Belt and road initiativeIncluding a quick turn between Thailand and China, highways and roads in Cambodia, as well as a railway and power plant in Vietnam.
“What (Southeast Asia countries) probably want to do now, quietly assures China that they are still trading with China and are still a partner with China, but they do not appear on the radar to antagonize the President of the United States,” said Lan.
Economic and territorial disputes
However, what seems to be the proclamation of a stronger block of Asia and the Pacific is not deprived of anger, both economically and geopolitically.
. Council for foreign relations.
Beijing also used economic coercion in countries such as imposing strict health controls, and then a full ban Bananas imported from the Philippines In 2012, in response to the territorial claims of Manila in the South China Sea.
Canada and the USA are involved in these waters. In August, the Canadian Minister of National Defense, Bill Blair, He met with his Australian counterpartDeputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Richard Marles, to discuss strengthening defense cooperation in the region, probably as a way to stop China.
The conflict in the South China Sea could potentially disturbed $ 5.5 trillion in trade.
These clashes will not evaporate day by day, said Bland of Chatham House.
“It is possible not to trust both great powers, and even in the margins, to simultaneously improve your relationship with both great powers,” he said, referring to China and the USA
At the same time, China also raises other neighbors such as Japan and South Korea. In March, leading diplomats from three countries had the first economic meeting for five years.
Despite this, there are still routine skirmishes in the Eastern Sea regarding claims regarding what China calls Diayu, and Japan call the islands of Senkaku.
Despite the permanent sense of distrust, the threat and unpredictability of Donald Trump could inspire countries to cooperate very well.
“At the end of this you can see a stronger Asia,” said Lan. “Not necessarily the world turns to Asia. It is the world that turns away from the USA”