With substantial economic assistance and market access, ’mere state visits won’t change the course of the region,’ an analyst said.
Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has embarked on his first overseas trip of 2025, courting three Southeast Asian nations amid heightened trade tensions with the United States.
However, analysts said breakthroughs are unlikely.
“Xi Jinping’s trip is aimed at restoring confidence among regional partners and to show that China is far from isolated,” Sun Kuo-hsiang, professor at Taiwan’s Nanhua University, told The Epoch Times before Xi’s arrival in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 14.
But the reality is a bit more complex.
“Southeast Asian countries tend to steer clear of picking sides,“ Sun said. ”They appear friendly to China on the surface, but hold reservations beneath that facade.”
He said that for China to make a real impact, “it must provide substantial economic assistance and market access; otherwise, mere state visits won’t change the course of the region.”
After spending two days in Vietnam, Xi arrived in Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport on the evening of April 15 for a three-day trip. Cambodia will be his final stop.
This trip comes amid rising tensions between China and the United States after a series of tit-for-tat tariff increases last week.
Analysts said this Southeast Asia trip follows a familiar pattern for the Chinese leader, who often embarks on foreign visits after the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp legislature in March. In 2024, he began his overseas travels in France, while in 2023, after assuming his record-breaking third term as China’s head of state, he chose Russia for his first overseas stop.
Huang Chung-ting is an expert on China–Southeast Asia relations at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, a think tank based in Taipei, Taiwan, that is funded by the Taiwanese government.
According to him, “This trip indeed carries a different meaning, given the high tariffs the United States has imposed on relevant countries, including China.”
Among the destinations on Xi’s itinerary, Vietnam and Cambodia are at the top of the U.S. reciprocal tariff list, facing levies of 46 percent and 49 percent, respectively, although these tariffs have been postponed until July.
By Dorothy Li
