XI pleads for free trade during the tour in Southeast Asia

The Chinese leader Xi Jinping asserts free trade while he is shooting this week in Southeast Asia, presenting China as a source of stability and certainty “.

On Monday, he was welcomed in Hanoi with Pomp and the ceremony by the president of Vietnam, Luong Cuong.

He arrived in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, later yesterday, for a three -day visit and will end his visit with a stop in Cambodia.

In Hanoi, XI had a meeting with the secretary general of the Communist Party of Vietnam in Lam, where he declared that the two countries “had brought the precious stability and certainty of the world” in a “turbulent world”. He also paid tribute to the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, the founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party.

“As beneficiaries of economic globalization, China and Vietnam should strengthen strategic determination, jointly oppose acts of unilateral intimidation, confirm the global free trade system and maintain industrial and world supply chains,” he added, according to a press release from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

China and Vietnam have signed a series of memorandums on cooperation in supply chains and a joint rail project, and Xi has also promised better access to Vietnamese agricultural exports to China, although few details have been made public on the agreements.

Trump says Asian nations are trying to “screw” the United States

US President Donald Trump complained about Reunion, which occurs a few days after his prices upset the world markets and left governments around the world to rush. Reacting to Reunion on Monday, Trump said that China and Vietnam were trying “to understand how to screw the United States of America.”

In Malaysia, XI should discuss a free trade agreement between China and the association of 10 members of the Southeast Asian Nation, because Malaysia is president of the association this year. XI will meet King Sultan Ibrahim today and Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim later in the day.

ASEAN Secretary General Kao Kim Hourn told Chinese state media that the agreement would eliminate many prices between China and the Bloc members. “We are going to bring back more prices to zero in many cases, then we will develop in all areas,” he said in an interview with CGTN, the English chain of the state diffuser.

Malaysia is home to several belt and road initiative projects, including a Chinese railway project of $ 11.2 billion ($ 18.9 billion NZ). China is also its largest trading partner and the main source of direct foreign investment.

The XI tour was probably planned before pricing announcements disrupted the world economy.

Beijing does not miss its opportunity

“From a Chinese point of view, it is mainly a question of ensuring that the influence of Chinas in the region remains strong and dynamic, Southeast Asia being a great Chinese trading partner,” said Oh Ei Sun, principal researcher at the Institute of International Affairs in Singapore.

However, the timing of the trip and the fact that Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia have been all the countries affected by Trump's prices, offers Beijing an opportunity to project how it would act as a “responsible” superpower, one of the long -standing positions of China.

“China can offer a lot to Vietnam and other Anase countries during this volatile period,” said Nguyen Thanh Trung, professor of Vietnamese studies at Fulbright Vietnam University. “I think China can be a leader.”

Anwar described China as a real friend during the visit of Li Qiangs in June and visited China three times since he took power in November 2022.

China's claims at the Southern China Sea are a point of contention with Vietnam and Malaysia. Anwar promised last September that Malaysia would not bow to China's requests to stop its oil and gas exploration in a maritime area rich in oil at the Southern China Sea, because activities were in the waters of the country.