China's Xi to visit Southeast Asia as trade conflict with US widens

Chinese President Xi Jinping begins a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia next week, his first overseas trip this year, aiming to consolidate ties with some of China's closest neighbours as trade tension escalates with the United States.

Xi will visit Vietnam from April 14 to 15, and Malaysia and Cambodia from April 15 to 18, state-run Xinhua news agency said on Friday, after the Chinese president pledged this week to deepen "all-round cooperation" with China's neighbours.

Hit with 145% U.S. tariffs since President Donald Trump took office this year, China is moving quickly to strengthen ties with other countries lying in the shadow of Washington's damaging trade levies.

Some countries hit by Trump's reciprocal tariffs, such as Cambodia, facing duties of 49%, Vietnam, subject to a barrier of 46%, and Malaysia, tackling a levy of 24%, have already begun reaching out to the United States to seek a reprieve.

That leaves China an outlier in two-way talks as tension runs high with Washington.

The rare trips are a high-profile personal diplomatic effort by Xi, who last visited Cambodia and Malaysia nine and 12 years ago respectively, though his last visit to Vietnam was more recent, in December 2023.

China and Vietnam are expected to sign about 40 agreements on Monday, two Vietnamese officials said, including some on rail links. Both sources sought anonymity as they are not authorised to speak to the media.

Vietnam has approached China for funding and technology to develop its railway network, with previous high-level visits by their officials often including deals on railway cooperation.

One of the sources said defence and police ministries would also sign pacts, but it was unclear if these would be binding and include financial commitments. Most agreements signed on past state visits have not been binding.

Xinhua said it would issue articles on Xi's visit to Southeast Asia, on topics such as how "flowing water cannot be severed" between China and Malaysia, and also featuring Xi and his "ironclad friends" from Cambodia.

In the days before and after Trump's reciprocal tariffs took effect on April 9, most of them since paused, except for China, Beijing had already started to persuade global regional blocs to hew to a common line against the punitive U.S. levies.

Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao held video telephone calls with counterparts from the European Union and Malaysia, as well as Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

This week, Premier Li Qiang spoke by phone with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in talks that emphasised the responsibility of both parties to support a "strong reformed trading system, free, fair and founded on a level playing field".