China’s President Xi Jinping returned to Beijing on April 18 from his first foreign visit of 2025, to the three Southeast Asian nations of Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia, three friends of China that are participants in the Belt and Road Initiative. The visit came at a time of international economic chaos sparked by the Trump tariff binge, and focused on expanding friendship and economic cooperation among the Asian neighbors. Global Times noted on April 11: “To date, China has reached consensus on building a community with a shared future with 17 neighboring countries and signed Belt and Road cooperation agreements with 25 of them. China is also the largest trading partner of 18 countries in the region, reflecting their deep and growing interdependence.”
In Vietnam, the two sides signed 45 bilateral cooperation documents, covering areas including connectivity, artificial intelligence, customs inspection and quarantine, agricultural trade, culture and sports, public welfare, human resource development, media, and more. President Xi and Vietnamese President and CPV General Secretary To Lam also witnessed the launching ceremony of the China-Vietnam railway cooperation mechanism in Hanoi, Xinhua reported. The rail plans include upgrading two railways that were built by the French more than a century ago, and developing a third direct link along their adjoining coast.
