Neighbors prioritized in diplomacy

Trip seen as timely, critical for boosting region's confidence

As President Xi Jinping starts a three-nation visit to Southeast Asia on Monday, observers at home and abroad said the latest move of head-of-state diplomacy is a testament to China's long-term commitment to deepening all-around cooperation with neighboring countries in order to safeguard peace and stability in the region and beyond.

The five-day trip, during which Xi will visit Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, is also a timely and critical one for boosting the confidence of countries in the region and providing more certainty for regional economic development amid the chaos brought by the United States' launch of a tariff war, they said.

Gu Jiayun, vice-dean of Beijing Foreign Studies University's School of Asian Studies, said that choosing Southeast Asia as the destination for this year's first head-of-state visit, days after Beijing held a central conference on work related to neighboring countries, shows the increasing importance attached by China to neighboring countries.