As the world's leading superpower pulls back from decades of globalization, uncertainty looms large over the global economy.
Amid this shifting landscape, Chinese President Xi Jinping has embarked on his first overseas trip of 2025, visiting Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia. These three countries aren't just close neighbors of China, they're also key players in ASEAN, the Southeast Asian bloc that's been China's largest trading partner for the past four years.
So how does this trip connect to China's push to cushion the blow from rising U.S. tariffs? And what does it reveal about Beijing's broader aspirations for regional partnerships? In this episode of Deep Dive, my colleague Zhao Yingfei joins us from Kuala Lumpur to unpack what President Xi's Southeast Asia tour signals about the future of China's economic and trade strategy. It's Thursday, April 17th.
Yunfei, welcome back to the show from the tropical Kuala Lumpur. And let's cut to the chase. What do you think are the biggest achievements of President Xi's trip to Malaysia so far? Well, there are a lot of achievements. I would say that you mentioned about tropical. Certainly the weather over here is really hot. And, you know, not only in terms of the temperature, but also in terms of the scale of, you know, welcome. I've been...
many international airports welcoming presidency, but I would say that this is one of the largest scale of welcoming for the Chinese president that I have ever been to. For example, I was at the airport when they were receiving presidency, there was a team with more than 300 people and there was a high school band, there is a welcoming crowd and there are a lot of folk dancers
that doing the mix of cultural, you know, stancings and also given the high level of the people. I just came back from the airport seeing
President Xi off. He was just leaving Malaysia and heading to Cambodia. And Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, was seeing him off from the airport. And this is also quite unique because given the fact that President Xi was here for three days,
Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, received President Xi from the airport on Tuesday, and on the entire day on Wednesday, he was with President Xi, both in the morning session when the King of Malaysia, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, was hosting a welcome ceremony to the Chinese president. The prime minister was there as well, including the afternoon session, where there's bilateral meeting between the prime minister and the Chinese president.
And then the prime minister seeing him off
on Thursday at the airport. So the entire three days he was accompanying the Chinese president. So that was a really large scale of welcome as well as a scale in terms of reception. So a lot of dancers, high school music band and the prime minister was there to welcome President Xi and also to see him off personally at the airport. So that's quite a high level welcoming for President Xi's first trip.
in over a decade. And why Malaysia is paying such high attention to President Xi's trip this time? What do you think are the reasons?
You mentioned it, that's over a decade. So this is the second visit by the Chinese president in 12 years. The second visit. I spoke to a lot of people, including scholars and people on the street. And there are some people really tell me that, really, that was been 12 years? And this is way overdue. It doesn't feel like that long.
It doesn't feel that long because remember last time he was here, there was an upgrade of the relationship. So this time President Xi was here, you know, after 12 years. And he also published an article saying that last trip really gave him a great, you know,
impression. So the way how people here say that this is overdue is not complaining. This is the way how they express that, hey, we have a very close bond between China and Malaysia and certainly we're close neighbors. So he's totally welcome to visit this beautiful country. And you were there actually before President Xi arrived in Malaysia. And so what's your personal impression of the tropical country? How did you like it?
Oh, speaking of the weather, I think it's quite different from Beijing because it could rain at any time. It doesn't have any prediction because when we live in Beijing, you know, there is a certain period of time when there is a prediction of rain. And then over here, it rains suddenly when we're seeing receiving the Chinese president at the airport, you know, just 20 minutes before his arrival, it was rain heavily. And one hour before that, it was there's
clear sunny sky. So it's really different from hour to hour. But luckily, when the Chinese president arrived at the airport, it was drilling a little bit and then really cool down the weather a little bit so that people are enjoying the temperature at the same time, not affected by the rain. So very unpredictable weather.
And earlier this month, you published an article called "Twin Parks Share Dreams and How Malaysia and China are Building the Future Together" on the local newspaper, The Star. So why did you choose that specific topic? I mean, what was your thought process when you decided to go from that angle?
Because that's how the cooperation project got started between the two countries. It got started with the industrial cooperation and infrastructure cooperation, the twin parks. One part was in China, the China-Malaysia Qingzhou Industrial Park. Another part is in Malaysia, the Malaysia-China Kuantan Industrial Park. So this is a really...
um you know industrial based uh cooperation and now they're expanding to the infrastructure level they have the east coast rail link that really goes through the industrial park and really upgrade the infrastructure of the city of quentin in general just to make the industrial park as a point get connected
to the other parts of the world, especially going over to China. So there's not only a linkage of the railroad infrastructure, but also the sea infrastructure, but also the port infrastructure, the connection
between Kwantan and the port of Qingzhou. So certainly now this is an infrastructure cooperation. And this time, President Xi's visit has really upgraded the level of cooperation really to the next level. The two sides signed cooperation documents. I did a rough count. About 30 documents on Thursday was being... About 30 documents was being signed on Wednesday. And...
certainly if you look at diving into the specific field of cooperation, it could be something really sensitive from artificial intelligence, the beta navigation system, to something really, you know, leisure from coconut to panda research. So, you know, it's really a wide range of cooperation field that also can give
an idea that how the mutual trust between the two countries are really benefiting the people. Right, so a lot of cooperation on the economic level and from different aspects. Some people might know that Malaysia actually has a very large and vibrant Chinese community and the data that I have, the most recent data that I have is that there were almost 7 million Chinese
Immigrants in Malaysia, and that accounts for roughly a quarter of the population in Malaysia back in 2020. Now, as you walk through the cities, the streets in Kuala Lumpur, do you see a lot of visible signs of Chinese culture, like language, food, businesses, restaurants, or even festivals?
it's really easy to encounter some people speaking Chinese even the fact that the nationality of person is not Chinese probably their ancestors are Chinese so certainly there is uh one of our drivers is actually uh Chinese and um you know his his grandfather was Chinese I asked him okay do you really are if you yourself got engaged because you're you're
you know, nationality is Malaysia. He would tell me that I still eat Chinese food. So as you mentioned, Chinese food is really popular on the street. Also, you know, I'm also amazed by the connection between the two sides because
Almost at every restaurant and convenience stores will be able to use the Alipay. So we don't need credit card anymore when we are walking in the street. So you can see that it's really deeply embedded. The Chinese culture as well as the Chinese technology is deeply embedded.
As President Xi himself really mentioned that China and Malaysia are neighbors across the sea, but certainly this is perhaps the way how we explain that neighbors across the sea is simply because of the similar culture, the similar Asian value that we share that can really can build a community, a peaceful development community within different cultures and different ethnicities. So there's a lot of policies to help
Chinese people coming to Malaysia, like you mentioned Alipay, you don't need to bring a credit card to Malaysia anymore for Chinese travelers. So these years, do you think there is a rise of Chinese nationals traveling to Malaysia in the recent years? And I'm not just talking about travelers and perhaps also people, businessmen coming to Malaysia for investment. Of course, when we talk about
There is a visa free program that is really even before the visa free program. There was already quite popular with people frequently traveled to Southeast Asia countries. You know, the three countries that President Xi is visiting this time are very popular destinations to the Chinese travelers.
So does the investment, just because of the similar value we share and the language that connected between the two countries, because a lot of time people can communicate in Chinese, so can make them communicate even more complicated topics because of the shared language. And that can help better promote the further investment process.
of Chinese companies over here to Malaysia. I mentioned about the Alipay was really successful. Uh, so certainly of course there, there will be, um, there, there, as there's more, you know, signed documents, documents being signed, including the beta navigation system, including the, um, exchange in culture and, you know, a movie as well as, uh, you know,
AI perspectives, certainly there will be more Chinese companies come over and invest in Malaysia. And I spoke with a guest, a member of Malaysia parliament, and he says that comparing to the other two countries, President Xi has visited
Malaysia is comparatively a little bit more independent in terms of trading with China, despite the fact that China is the top trading partner of Malaysia.
So that also can give more opportunities for Chinese investments to come over and settle down in Malaysia. Do you think Malaysia is positioning the country itself for Chinese nationals, especially under the frameworks like regional economic initiatives like RCEP and the Belt and Road Initiative?
Yeah, because of the integration of the development plans, the development plans of both two countries really share the same spirit. That's why how it got better integrated. But I would like to emphasize that Malaysia is not providing this opportunity uniquely for China. I think Malaysia really focuses on diversity a lot.
So it's not only an opportunity for Chinese companies, but also they are really providing opportunities for many other countries in the region. And what Chinese companies is really grasping the opportunities over here. So we are seeing an increasing amount of Chinese investment over here. And it's also because of the openness of the policy that can ensure that's happening.
not just because of Malaysia is doing that uniquely for China, it's just because of the countries. Right, so Malaysia welcomes foreign capitals, businesses investing in the country, but at the same time, sounds like Chinese nationals are also quite willing to explore the market in Malaysia. And so, are Chinese products and brands common in Malaysia?
I would still want to emphasize I didn't go to the shopping mall quite often because we were really busy with reporting. But certainly, I would say that when you want to check out from the convenience store, the Alipay, the technology exchanges, it was really, really popular. Yeah, so haven't got the time to browse the shopping mall yet.
So hopefully someday in the future, you can explore these Chinese businesses, the presence of them in Malaysia. So now after President Xi's first trip after 12, over a decade, what can we expect from China-Malaysia cooperation and their partnership going forward in the future from now?
Well, because last year, the two countries celebrated the 50 years of ties between the two countries since they established diplomatic ties. And this time, President Xi's visit, he mentioned about the new golden next 50 years. So certainly opening a new chapter for the next 50 years. And it's a gold 50 years described by Chinese President Xi. Certainly there's
something beyond the previous cooperation. As I mentioned, it started from industrial cooperation, infrastructure cooperation, and then the next level from more cooperation that really benefit build on mutual trust. For example, China wants to, you know, strengthen security cooperation with Malaysia in the next step. So certainly we're giving the bigger picture. China is really strengthening its cooperation
relationship with neighboring countries because this time President Xi's trip abroad, this is his first trip of this year, abroad to overseas trip of this year. And then it came after a week after the work conference on the central conference on the work related to neighboring countries. So certainly China is really showing its dedication to fostering an amicable, secure and prosperous neighborhood.
So the growing partnership between China and Malaysia and President Xi's trip to Malaysia this time is reflecting a larger pattern that China is strengthening its ties across countries in Southeast Asia.
This is one of the stops for the president's trip to Southeast Asia, first to Vietnam, now Malaysia. And earlier today, you were at the airport to see him off for him to start his trip to Cambodia. So China has been deepening its ties with the ASEAN countries. What are the key drivers behind China's growing engagement with the regional bloc?
Well, I think if you see how this trip is being planned, it's interesting to see that Malaysia is the second stop of this trip. But what really makes Malaysia unique is its role. This year, Malaysia served as a rotating chair of ASEAN. So certainly...
President Xi himself is suggesting that Malaysia, he hopes that Malaysia can work as a bridge between China and ASEAN, so play a pivotal role as a bridge that connecting China and ASEAN countries.
really, last time when Malaysia worked as an ASEAN chair, Malaysia did do so and better promoted cooperation with China. So certainly there's a lot of anticipation between a further, closer relationship between China and ASEAN itself. And also it's because of China really emphasizing its relationship with neighboring countries. And given the fact that I'm pretty sure that
when this trip got arranged, there was not yet a terror war at the moment. Right. But all of a sudden there was a crazy, you know, leverage of terror from the U.S. administration. Certainly now it turned the topic a little bit between the ASEAN countries with China on how to
better support, better frame, more resilient trade cooperation between the two sides. Yeah, so this state visit is taking place coinciding with American administration's trade tariffs. We'll get to that topic deeper a bit later. But before that,
Among all these countries in ASEAN, why these particular three countries? Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia. Why choosing these three countries for President Xi's visit? What's the reasoning behind that? Well, that's a great question. I think if you look at the three countries, and certainly Malaysia serves as the chair of ASEAN, so certainly it plays a pivotal role.
Okay, the following is what I guess. I think that's a tough question. So Vietnam, because it's a communist country. So certainly last time President Xi was visiting Vietnam was back in 2023, at the end of 2023. So certainly, you know, President Xi wants to emphasize, strengthen its ties with, you know, communist party country.
And Cambodia, I think it's also a very key country when it comes to the South China Sea issues, I'm guessing, because two sides have relatively agreement on the security issue in the South China Sea. So that's why...
the Chinese president is picking the other two countries. You probably want to turn to a more expert on this topic, but certainly, I guess the reason why he wants to come to Malaysia is because Malaysia is the chair of ASEAN. Right. So for this trip, President Xi's visit to the three countries might signal a turning point
in China-ASEAN relations. And are we likely to see more integration in areas like infrastructure, digital economy, or people-to-people exchanges between China and ASEAN countries? I think so. It's not just because of President Xi's visit, because
when his time this time's visit he really showing his anticipation and support to malaysia serving as the chair of asean so certainly we will be able to see the next step of move but also it comes amidst the tariff situation at this moment so certainly there um you know a lot of the guests i spoke with they say that the asean countries
should come together and come up with countermeasures, maybe not a strong countermeasures, but the relatively solution to the current situation. And one of the possible solutions that they could do is strengthening ties with China and doing more businesses with China. A lot of guests told me that
China probably is not worried about the trade tensions because China has a really strong domestic market, given the fact that the first quarter of China's GDP growth was 5.4%. That was surprisingly high. But really, when it comes to countries in the Southeast Asia, the better way that they can strive in their economy, one strategy is to...
advancing their trade. So when it comes to tariff, they really reduce the amount and that really can lead them to find alternatives.
So now onto this topic of tariffs. As you said earlier, President Xi's trip to these three ASEAN countries wasn't planned for U.S. tariffs, but it just happens to coincide with the administration's announcement. And now we are seeing rising protectionism and trade tensions.
And do you think China's deeper regional ties with the ASEAN countries is the country's response to the global fragmentation? And people might be worried, like, is China still willing for global free trade? Or will China start to focus more on regional trade?
Well, yes and no. I think China wants to do both at the same time, even despite the fact there is no tariff. Certainly, this trip is being planned quite early because this is the visit of the head of state. So certainly, even though there's no trade tensions, China do wants to expand its cooperation with neighboring countries because that's always been
the Chinese diplomacy's priority. As I mentioned, the Central Conference on the work related to neighboring countries that is being held last week certainly stressed the importance of how China needs to build an amicable relationship
you know, situation with its neighboring countries. So it's there. And then it comes to the trade. And that can really give the urgency that how the East Asian countries should really work together to combat the current situation. When President Xi was hosted by the King of Malaysia, His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, President Xi says that the two countries should play, should jointly push forward the conflict
development of the global south. See, so he mentioned about the global south. Even the fact that this is a bilateral meeting between China and Malaysia, President Xi still mentioned that it's important for the global south to get united. And the King says that Malaysia is dedicated to realizing the greater development of ASEAN-China relations.
So as we record this conversation, President Xi has already finished his visit to Malaysia and has started, kicked off his visit to Cambodia. But my colleague Yunfei has finished his reporting duty in Malaysia and is ready to fly back. So wish you a safe trip, safe flight back to Beijing. Thank you very much for your time, Yunfei. Thank you for having me.
What's becoming clearer is that China is doubling down on its regional ties, strengthening both political and trade relationships within ASEAN. President Xi's message, published across major newspapers in all three countries, underscored a broader theme: Unity brings strength, and only through cooperation can nations thrive together.
From the Belt and Road Initiative to BRICS+ and RCEP, China is positioning itself as a champion of multilateralism, offering development opportunities not just to its neighbours but to the wider world.
And that brings us to the end of this episode of Deep Dive. If you enjoyed what you just heard, don't forget to follow us on podcast platforms. Just search for Deep Dive. You can also leave a comment to let us know what you want to learn about China and beyond. This episode is brought to you by me, Li Yunqi, and my colleagues Zhang Zhang and Qi Zhi. Special thanks to CGTN reporter Zhao Yunfei. I'll see you in the next one.