Xi's ASEAN visit a good sign from Beijing

The international community has been thrown into turmoil by US President Donald Trump's unilateral decision to impose additional tariffs on nearly 180 countries, including China and ASEAN member countries. The ASEAN member countries affected by US reciprocal tariffs are Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. What the US administration is doing is unacceptable as it appears to undermine the rules-based international order — of which the United States was one of the main proponents — that has existed for 80 years since World War II. Besides, the US is one of ASEAN's strategic partners apart from China.

In this backdrop, President Xi Jinping's visit to Vietnam, Malaysia, and Cambodia sends a positive signal that China will always stand by ASEAN countries in times of crisis. This is reminiscent of when the financial crisis hit Asian countries in 1997. At that time, China's decision not to devalue the yuan greatly helped ASEAN member countries restore their economic stability. In his speech at the ASEAN-China Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Dec 16, 1997, then Chinese President Jiang Zemin said that in difficult times, good neighbors and good partners must help each other.