Visits show China is reliable partner

President Xi Jinping arrived in Beijing on Friday afternoon as he wrapped up his first overseas trip of this year in which he made state visits to Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia.

During the visits, China and the three neighboring countries reached consensuses in a wide range of areas including politics and economic cooperation, as evidenced by the signing of a total of more than 100 cooperation documents.

As the global landscape enters a critical period, the trip by the Chinese head of state has sent a clear message of regional countries' commitment to building their common home through all-around cooperation, upholding free trade and defending the rules-based international order, officials and experts said.

Xi's three-nation tour of Southeast Asia, which came amid the chaos caused by the United States' launch of a tariff war, also reinforced Beijing's reputation as a reliable and dependable partner, they added.

Xu Liping, director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Center for Southeast Asian Studies, said that faced with a complex external environment, the trip provided a good opportunity for China and the regional countries to strengthen strategic communication and reach at the highest level the consensus of getting united to firmly reject unilateralism and protectionism.

In Hanoi, To Lam, general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee, when saying goodbye to Xi, pointed out that a series of key common understandings reached during Xi's fruitful visit has strengthened Vietnam's confidence in overcoming challenges, and also elevated their people-to-people friendship to new heights.

In Putrajaya, Malaysia's federal administrative capital, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in an interview that Xi's visit marks a highlight of China-Malaysia friendship. As the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for 2025, Malaysia advocates for free trade and openness, and will strive to coordinate communication and connections among ASEAN countries to jointly address external changes, he said.

In Phnom Penh, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet told Xi that amid global turbulence caused by unilateralism and shocks to the multilateral trading system, China has played a leading role and provided valuable stability to the world.

During the visit, China has elevated respectively its building of a community with a shared future with the three countries to new heights, demonstrating its priority regarding neighboring countries in terms of foreign policy after Beijing held the central conference on work related to neighboring countries days prior to Xi's trip.

Speaking at a Thursday media briefing upon the conclusion of the tour, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that all of the three countries have expressed their welcome and high regard for the importance China attaches to neighboring countries.

Among the outcomes of Xi's trip were the launch of the China-Vietnam railway cooperation mechanism, a mutual visa exemption agreement between China and Malaysia, and a cooperation agreement on the Funan Techo Integrated Water Resources Management Project that concerns the livelihood of Cambodian people.

Scientific and technological innovation is a highlight of China's cooperation with the three countries, with agreements reached in artificial intelligence and other areas.

Wang added that security and defense is another important field of China's cooperation with regional countries, besides mutually beneficial economic cooperation.

China and Vietnam have announced the establishment of the"3+3" strategic dialogue mechanism on diplomacy, defense and public security at the ministerial level, while China and Malaysia, and China and Cambodia have agreed respectively to establish joint foreign and defense dialogue mechanisms.

Du Lan, deputy head of the China Institute of International Studies' Asia-Pacific Studies Department, said that the deepening of China-Vietnam, China-Malaysia and China-Cambodia economic cooperation will help these countries expand their markets and stabilize industrial and supply chains, to boost the resilience of economic development in order to address global economic uncertainty.

"Through the alignment of the Belt and Road Initiative and the development strategies of respective countries, China will provide its solutions and wisdom in areas such as infrastructure construction, the digital economy and the green economy, and play a leading role in bolstering the common development of regional countries," Du said.

Xu with the CASS said the visits highlighted China's commitment to promoting cooperation with ASEAN countries, supporting the central role of ASEAN in regional cooperation and firmly safeguarding the multilateral trading system.

"This will provide more certainty and stability for regional cooperation and even the world economy," Xu said.