China’s Xi arrives in Malaysia, pledges deeper ties amid escalating US trade war

KUALA LUMPUR – Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Malaysia’s capital on April 15, the second stop on a whirlwind three-nation tour in South-east Asia, at a time when an escalating trade war between the world’s two largest economies is threatening to upend the world order.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim received Mr Xi on the tarmac of Kuala Lumpur International Airport during a slight drizzle amid tight security in and around the city.

“With this visit, I hope to further deepen our traditional friendship, enhance political mutual trust, advance cooperation in modernisation, promote mutual learning between civilisations, and scale new heights in developing the China-Malaysia community with a shared future,” Mr Xi said in an English-language statement released by the Chinese Embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

This is the Chinese leader’s second visit to Malaysia since he assumed office in 2013, and follows Datuk Seri Anwar’s

visit to Beijing in November 2024.

“Malaysia is honoured that this blessed country has been selected for President Xi’s visit, particularly to strengthen the close ties between the two nations,” Mr Anwar said in a social media post.

Ahead of the visit, Mr Xi pledged to “harness the momentum of collaboration at the multilateral level” between China and Malaysia, in an op-ed published by three Malaysian news outlets.

“We must uphold the United Nations-centred international system and the international order underpinned by international law, and promote fairer and more equitable global governance.

“We must uphold the multilateral trading system, keep global industrial and supply chains stable, and maintain an international environment of openness and cooperation,” he said.

The visit comes just days after the Trump administration abruptly announced

a 90-day pause on sweeping “reciprocal” tariffs,

while hiking tariffs on Chinese imports effectively to 145 per cent. Beijing had responded with consecutive retaliatory hikes in tariffs on American exports.

Before the halt on April 9, Mr Trump hit several export-oriented South-east Asian economies

with some of the highest “reciprocal” tariffs.

He slapped a 49 per cent rate on Cambodia, while Vietnam and Malaysia faced duties of 46 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.

Mr Xi arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Vietnam, where he pledged to resist

“unilateral bullying”

– a veiled reference to US President Donald Trump’s inconsistent stance on tariffs.

The Chinese leader is also due to visit Cambodia after Malaysia, a tour aimed at reinforcing Beijing’s image as a dependable major power and capitalising on Mr Trump’s upending of longstanding norms.

The Trump administration’s raft of tariffs has roiled the financial markets, with many investors and market watchers bracing themselves for a global economic slowdown.

On April 16, Mr Xi is scheduled to meet Malaysia’s King, Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, at Istana Negara in the morning.

This will be followed by an afternoon meeting with Mr Anwar at the Seri Perdana Complex (Prime Minister’s official residence) in Putrajaya, where both leaders are due to sign a series of memorandums of understanding and bilateral agreements.