Tag: Xi Jinping

China’s President Xi Jinping says nobody can stop ‘family reunion’ with Taiwan

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Joe Biden and Xi Jinping discuss US-China bilateral ties during phone call

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping held a phone call on Tuesday morning to discuss bilateral ties and regional and global issues, including progress on counternarcotics and cooperation in areas like artificial intelligence and climate change. This is the first phone call between the two leaders after their summit meeting at Woodside in California last November.

The call builds on previous meetings between US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and the Communist Party of China, Director of the Office of Foreign Affairs Commission and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bangkok on January 27 and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s meeting with Wang in Munich in February this year.

Notably, the last phone call between the two leaders was in July 2022. The call highlights the importance of intense diplomacy to manage tensions and prevent unintended conflict, a senior administration official told reporters ahead of the call between the two leaders.

A senior administration official told reporters on the eve of the call that the two leaders were to discuss the US-China bilateral relationship, the continued importance of strengthening lines of communication and managing competition and a range of regional and global issues.

Also Read: US updates export curbs on AI chips and tools to China

“Of course, we have not changed our approach to the People’s Republic of China, which remains one focused on the framework of invest, align and compete, the official said.

Noting that intense competition requires intense diplomacy to manage tensions, address misperceptions prevent unintended conflict and discover ways to do that, the official said adding that there are also areas of cooperation where the interests of the two countries align. It is important to work together to deliver on issues that matter to the American people, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

These areas include counter-narcotics, risk and safety issues related to AI, resumption of military-to-military communication channels and climate issues. The US and China need to maintain close consultation with law enforcement at the technical level and otherwise, to really drive that substantive law enforcement action, the official added.

The President will also express concern over Chinese actions in the South China Sea including the dangerous recent action against the coast guard against routine Philippine maritime operations, the official said.

China claims nearly all of the disputed South China Sea, though Taiwan, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam all claim parts of it. Beijing has built artificial islands and military installations in the South China Sea.

The US has already expressed its concerns about China’s support for Russia’s work in Ukraine and its efforts to help Russia reconstitute its defence industrial base, said the official. “We also expect the two leaders to cover a range of other regional and global issues including efforts to advance the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

“On economic and trade issues, President Biden will likely reiterate concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s unfair economic practices and convey that the US will continue to take actions to protect our economic and national security interests includes among other things, ensuring a fair and level playing field for American workers as well technology from being used to undermine our national security, the official said.

Also Read: Xi Jinping meets prominent American CEOs, looks to ease economic concerns

Observing that in many conversations with Xi, Biden has consistently underscored the critical importance of respect for human rights, the official said they expect Biden will again raise concerns regarding the erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy, and PRC human rights abuses, including in Xinjiang.

Following the leader’s call, we will continue to advance our interests through Cabinet-level diplomacy, including visits to the PRC by Secretary of the Treasury Yellen in the coming days, the Secretary of State Blinken and in the coming weeks.

We also expect a Secretary Defence-Minister of Defence call soon and of course, paired with this is travel by PRC officials here to the United States as well, the official said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Chinese President Xi Jinping hosts meeting with US business leaders

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China’s President Xi Jinping met with American business leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Wednesday, as the government tries to woo foreign investors back into the country and international firms seek reassurance over new regulations.

Beijing wants to boost growth this year in the world’s second largest economy, after foreign direct investment into China shrank 8% in 2023 as investor concern grew over an anti-espionage law, exit bans and raids on consultancies and due diligence firms.

President Xi’s increasing focus on national security has left many companies uncertain where they might step over the line, even as Chinese leaders make public overtures towards overseas investors.

Some 20 firms were invited to participate in Wednesday’s gathering, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter, and the meeting ran for around 90 minutes, one of the sources said.

Stephen Schwarzman, co-founder and CEO of private equity firm Blackstone, Raj Subramaniam, head of American delivery giant FedEx, and Cristiano Amon, the boss of chips manufacturer Qualcomm attended the meeting, according to state media.

The two sources had no immediate comment on what was discussed at the meeting, which was organised by the National Committee on US-China Relations, the US-China Business Council and the Asia Society think tank.

The three organisations did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the meeting.

The gathering took place in the East Hall of the Great Hall of the People, which is reserved for important functions. Attendees sat in a square formation around a large red, orange and green floral installation, a video released by state media showed.

The audience with Xi follows Chinese Premier Li Qiang not meeting visiting foreign CEOs at the China Development Forum in Beijing on March 24-25, which prompted concerns over transparency in the world’s second-largest economy.

The chance to exchange views with Beijing’s second-ranking leader had become a key element of the summit in previous years.

Wednesday’s meeting followed a dinner in November with US executives in San Francisco, where Xi received a standing ovation.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Rising Bharat Summit 2024 | Former US Secretary Mike Pompeo warns of growing threat from Chinese Communist Party

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Xi Jinping signals China ready to step up support for developing nations

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping indicated his nation would be a bigger voice for the world’s developing economies, underscoring his campaign to offer an alternative to US leadership.

“China has always regarded solidarity and cooperation with African countries as an important cornerstone of our foreign policy,” Xi told Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio on a visit to Beijing, the official Xinhua News Agency reported late Wednesday.

The Chinese president said both nations should boost their coordination in the UN Security Council and “jointly safeguard the interests of Africa and developing countries.” China is a permanent member of the council, and Sierra Leone has a non-permanent seat.

China under Xi has been stepping up efforts to appeal to emerging economies in the so-called Global South, nations spanning South America, Africa and Southeast Asia. He has also cast his signature Belt and Road Initiative as a sweeping alternative to the US-led world order; pushed to expand the BRICS bloc; and presented his nation as a peacemaker amid the fighting in Ukraine and Gaza.

In a speech last year to mark the 10th anniversary of the global infrastructure push, Xi criticized unilateral sanctions, geopolitical rivalry and bloc politics. While he didn’t identify any country, the remarks were clear references to US policy toward China in recent years, which Washington has characterized as de-risking but Beijing sees as an effort to thwart its rising power.

China has sought to cultivate influence among African nations for decades, and holds up railroad and other projects built by its companies as benefiting the continent. The US has said China’s loans to emerging market-economies mire them in debt.

Chinese diplomats dispute the idea that the nation seeks greater influence in the Global South. In January, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Beijing’s relationship with the countries was aimed at “safeguarding world peace, promoting global development and upholding international order.”

Later this year, Beijing will host the next round of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation. China touts the platform founded in 2000 and including 53 African nations as a display of its multilateral approach to world affairs. Beijing has an influential role in setting the forum’s agenda and hosted two of its three leaders’ summits so far.

Focac started largely as forum focused on trade but under Xi that’s been expanded to include topics such as security and ideology.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

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Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China replaces head of securities market amid struggling economy

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China has ousted the head of its securities watchdog, the official Xinhua news agency said, replacing him with a veteran regulator with a reputation for tough action as policymakers struggle to stabilise the country’s stock markets.

The cabinet has replaced Yi Huiman as chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) with Wu Qing, who has led the Shanghai Stock Exchange and served as a key deputy in Shanghai’s municipal government, Xinhua said on Wednesday.

It did not give a reason for Yi’s removal, which comes as China’s stock markets have hit five-year lows and left institutional and retail investors scrambling to cut their losses as China’s struggling economy and a lack of forceful government stimulus measures take their toll on confidence.

The decision comes after President Xi Jinping on Tuesday met the Chinese regulators for briefing on financial markets, according to people with knowledge of the matter, as per Bloomberg.

Chinese markets have been roiled by near constant turmoil since 2019, first by a trade spat with Washington, then by the collapse of indebted developer China Evergrande amid the crisis that has torn through the country’s real estate market.

Numerous market-focused support moves such as restrictions on short-selling or reductions in trading costs have failed to staunch the selloff, as have a number of government statements promising support but lacking details.

Yi’s exit comes just ahead of the long Lunar New Year break. Trading in Chinese stocks is suspended for a week starting from Friday, giving markets time to fully digest the change.

“As a knee-jerk reaction, I can see how this would be viewed as positive. But in addressing the well understood issues of the Chinese economy, it doesn’t address anything at all,” said Tim Graf, the head of EMEA macro strategy at State Street.

The FTSE China A50 Index Futures edged up after the news, with a gain of 0.2% as of 1027 GMT. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng futures were little changed on Wednesday evening.

Foreign investors sold a net 18.2 billion yuan ($2.5 billion) in Chinese equities last month to notch a sixth straight month of outflows, and the central bank has been persistently supporting the yuan currency .

While world stocks rose 20% last year, gold 13% and bitcoin 155%, China’s blue-chip fell 11%. It has fallen for 6 months in a row and is down 23% since August to five-year lows.

Fresh vows of support by state-linked buyers and a Bloomberg report that President Xi Jinping would meet market regulators drove a rally on Tuesday and Wednesday, but the mood remains fragile and investors sceptical.

Broker butcher

Yi, a veteran of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China  – which he joined as a junior loan officer at a branch in Zhejiang in 1985 – was appointed to head the CSRC in January 2019.

Under Yi, the CSRC ramped up measures to defend the stock market this year, suspending brokerages from borrowing shares for lending, curbing margin-lending and other derivatives and even getting exchanges to halt selling by some hedge funds.

China state fund Central Huijin Investment had also stepped up investments in Chinese stock exchange traded funds (ETFs).

“It’s not unexpected as someone has to be accountable for the market mess, but the timing is interesting,” said Yang Tingwu, vice general manager of Tongheng Investment.

Previous CSRC chairmen mostly were bankers, but Wu was a securities regulator, so his mission appeared to be to catch any companies or bankers cheating investors, he said.

“Wu is dubbed broker butcher, so we expect to see forceful regulations,” Yang said, adding he expected some brokerages and individuals would face penalties for market disruptions.

A series of crackdowns on sectors from technology to education has tested investor patience and China’s underwhelming recovery from COVID-19 pushed them to sell.

“It’s not the first time China fired a CSRC chairman during a market rout. Thus change signals leaders’ willingness to turn the market around,” said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

In 2015, a plunge in China’s stock market and a surprise devaluation of the yuan roiled global markets, and a botched stock market rescue attempt tarnished Beijing’s pledges of reforms and broad policy-making credentials.

In early 2016, China removed Xiao Gang, then head of its securities regulator, replacing him with a top state banking executive, as leaders sought to restore confidence.

EIU’s Xu said that Wu’s appointment ends the practice where commercial bankers head the CSRC.

“Wu’s previous experience in the securities industry – across regulators and exchanges – will hopefully bring some changes towards ‘leaving it to the professionals,’ said Xu.

Wu also replaced Yi as the Communist Party chief at the regulator, Xinhua said.

This announcement did not include the phrase “to be appointed to other roles”, which usually suggests an outgoing chairman is taking another position, an ex-CSRC official said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China’s Premier orders more measures to arrest stock rout

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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China’s Premier Li Qiang asked authorities to take more “forceful” measures to stabilize his country’s slumping stock market and investor confidence, after the mainland’s benchmark CSI 300 Index hit a five-year low on Monday.

Chinese equities have sold off for most of the past year, hurt by factors ranging from a protracted crisis in the housing market to persistent deflationary pressures in the wider economy. Beijing’s policy response so far has failed to buttress sentiment among investors hoping for even easier monetary conditions or a big lift in fiscal stimulus.

At a meeting on Monday chaired by Li, the State Council, China’s cabinet, received a briefing on the operations of the capital markets as well as considerations for related work, according to an official statement, which didn’t provide more details on what Beijing is mulling.

A rally in late 2022 sparked by China’s lifting of draconian Covid-19 restrictions proved short-lived, with concerns about poor consumer confidence among the factors weighing on equities. The CSI 300 has slumped some 20% over the past nine months.

China has in the past sometimes deployed state assets to intervene in the markets. The country’s sovereign wealth fund made such a move in October.

“It sounds like something had been readied in response to the recent equity rout,” said Neo Wang, managing director for China research at Evercore ISI in New York. “The market was poor enough to warrant such elevated attention — China cannot afford to see A-shares sinking toward the Lunar New Year holidays,” he said, referring to domestically listed Chinese stocks and the upcoming mid-February break.

The State Council emphasized the need to enhance the quality and investment value of listed companies, increase flows of medium- and long-term funds into the market, and strengthen the market’s inherent stability.

Other measures included strengthening the regulations that govern capital markets. China also needs to improve the consistency of its macro policies in order to consolidate the nation’s economic recovery, the State Council said after the meeting.

While incremental measures may be pending, nothing indicates “anything extraordinary that would fundamentally reshape market expectations,” said Gabriel Wildau, managing director at advisory firm Teneo Holdings LLC in New York. More broadly, “it’s clear at this point that President Xi Jinping doesn’t view major stock indexes as an important gauge of the success or failure of his economic strategy,” he said.

Still, the tumble in Chinese equities threatens to undermine international confidence in the country’s financial system just as Xi pushes to make the nation a world “financial power.” Overseas investors have already been skittish over the Communist Party’s increasing influence in the economy.

“We pulled our clients out of China,” Alicia Levine, BNY Mellon Wealth Management’s head of investment strategy, said on Bloomberg Television Monday. “The political party is sitting at the top of the corporate structure of every large company and small company in China — very hard to invest that way.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Xi Jinping pledges to strengthen economic recovery after tough year

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed to strengthen economic momentum and deliver on job creation, acknowledging some companies and citizens had a difficult 2023 in a rare admission of headwinds the country is facing.

While touting China’s achievements in his New Year’s message, the leader noted “some enterprises had a tough time” and “some people had difficulty finding jobs and meeting basic needs” in the past year.

“We will consolidate and strengthen the momentum of economic recovery, and work to achieve steady and long-term economic development,” Xi said in a televised address on Sunday.

The government’s goal is about “delivering a better life for the people — our children should be well taken care of and receive good education, our young people should have the opportunities to pursue their career and succeed, and our elderly people should have adequate access to medical services and elderly care,” he said.

Improving people’s well-being has been a key part of the social contact the Communist Party has relied on for its ruling. The new year sees China entering a pivotal period as policymakers try to boost growth, stabilize a crisis in the property market and prevent the world’s second-largest economy from sleepwalking into deflation.

Beijing is expected to target a growth goal of around 5% again in 2024, although achieving that will be harder due to a higher base.

Investor confidence has plummeted as concerns over Beijing’s opaque policymaking persisted and higher interest rates overseas spurred capital outflows. A recent crackdown on the gaming industry sparked a $80 billion meltdown, while foreign investors recorded their smallest-ever annual purchases of Chinese stocks.

Signs of weakness in the economy have increased recently with factory activity shrinking in December to the lowest level in six months, likely adding pressure on policymakers to act urgently to inject impetus to the economy.

Xi on Sunday touted Chinese “manufacturing prowess” with a list of projects including the domestically-built C919 passenger jet, a made-in-China cruise ship, space programs, maned submersibles, and electric cars.

China’s most-powerful leader since Mao Zedong continued to break Communist Party norms, making his fewest overseas trips — only four — in a non-pandemic year since taking power. He delayed a key economic meeting held every five years to chart the country’s reform.

Xi also abruptly ousted his defense minister, as well as top rocket force leaders, as turmoil rippled through the upper echelons of the nation’s military. Beijing also removed its foreign minister, without explanation, adding to the instability.

The new year also brings fresh geopolitical risks from elections in the US and Taiwan.

In his speech, Xi repeated that China will “surely be reunified,” alluding at Taiwan, which split with the mainland in 1949 at the end of a civil war but Beijing still claims as its own.

Taiwan’s hotly-contested election on January 13 will decide how the island of more than 23 million people will respond to Beijing’s moves. The incumbent Democratic Progressive Party seeks to strengthen Taipei’s ties with Washington, while the opposition Kuomintang — an increasingly close second in the most recent polls — is Beijing’s preferred negotiating partner on the island.

“All Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should be bound by a common sense of purpose and share in the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” Xi said.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

China’s industrial profits rise though deflation concerns linger

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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The growth in China’s industrial profits gathered pace in November, helped by favorable year-ago comparisons and as the effects of the government’s support measures kicked in.

Profits jumped 29.5% from a year earlier, accelerating sharply from the 2.7% increase in October, according to data published by the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday.

The figures are boosted by a low base of comparison last year when economic activity was hampered by strict pandemic controls. The statistics bureau stopped publishing the dataset in the second half of 2022 and resumed early this year, with the numbers showing negative growth through July. In August, growth turned sharply positive before easing in recent months.

Still, profits for the first 11 months were down 4.4% from the same period a year earlier, easing from a 7.8% decline through the first 10 months.

Yu Weining, an NBS analyst, attributed November’s rise to government policies. “As macro policies take effect and domestic demand gradually recovers, the rebound in industrial production picked up and industrial firms’ profit continued to improve,” Yu said in a separate statement.

Meanwhile signs of deflation have become more prevalent across China as prices keep declining and demand remains lackluster. This increases pressure on authorities to step up stimulus or risk the economy falling into a downward spiral as consumers and companies hold off purchases or investments in anticipation of prices dropping further.

Beijing is expected to set an ambitious growth goal for 2024, which would be the same as the target this year but is harder to achieve because 2023 had the benefit of a low base of comparison due to coronavirus restrictions a year ago.

China’s consumer prices posted the steepest drop in three years last month while declines in factory-gate costs also accelerated. New orders received by manufacturers contracted to the lowest since June and factories scaled back input purchases for a second straight month, official data showed.

External demand for Chinese goods has also been weak, with a gauge of export prices hitting the lowest since 2009 in October. The declines show the industrial sector’s destocking cycle hasn’t ended, and companies, particularly downstream consumer goods producers, may still be struggling with overcapacity, according to a note by Changjiang Securities over the weekend.

China’s top leaders have indicated they will maintain a pro-growth policy stance next year. The country’s biggest state-owned banks slashed deposit rates last week for the third time this year, paving the way for further lending rate cuts. The move followed the central bank’s record injection of cash into banks via its one-year policy loans earlier this month to encourage lending.

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow

Chinese President Xi Jinping makes first Vietnam visit since 2017 to counter US clout

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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When Chinese President Xi Jinping makes his first trip to Vietnam in six years, he’ll be seeking to ensure a strategically important Asian partner hasn’t drifted too close to the US.

The Chinese leader will arrive in Hanoi on Tuesday with a mission to upgrade ties with his Communist counterparts, the foreign ministry in Beijing said last week. He’s expected to lay down funding for railway lines crucial to exports from Vietnam, a boon for a manufacturer struggling to bolster post-pandemic growth.

The two-day trip — Xi’s sole visit to an Asian nation so far this year — comes just three months after US President Joe Biden declared “enormous” opportunity with Vietnam on his first jaunt to the Asian nation. That trip yielded sweeping agreements with the US on everything from semiconductors to security.

“China would want to pressure Vietnam not to go too far to these other countries,” said Lye Liang Fook, a senior fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute who has spent two decades researching Chinese foreign policy. “I think Vietnam is one country in Southeast Asia that knows how to balance this relationship.”

The Biden administration’s push to limit China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific, along with Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims in South China Sea, has forced nations such as Vietnam into a delicate balancing act between the world’s largest economies.

Hanoi will be mindful of that balance as it seeks economic opportunities from its biggest trading partner this week. Vietnam has been wary China will use its economic and military might to assert more control in the South China Sea, where they have overlapping claims and the US is providing growing security assistance.

Changed Reality
The geopolitical and economic landscape is much changed since Xi’s last trip to Vietnam in 2017, which overlapped with then US President Donald Trump’s state visit around an economic summit where the superpowers jostled for influence.

Vietnam has since emerged as one of the biggest winners from US-China trade tensions, as businesses redirect billions of dollars from China to the manufacturing powerhouse in a bid to secure supply chains.

The Southeast Asian nation has adopted a more inclusive approach to growth, evident from strengthening ties with the US and its allies. During Biden’s September trip, the two nations formally upgraded ties, shifting the relationship to a “comprehensive strategic partnership,” the highest level and the one it uses for China and India.

“Vietnam’s maneuvered its diplomatic strategy to stay independent while upholding its stability and development,” said Le Dang Doanh, an economist and former government adviser to Hanoi.

Last month, Japan and Vietnam elevated ties while underscoring their adherence to international law and territorial integrity. Both nations are embroiled in territorial disputes with China. Tokyo also pledged to provide security assistance to Vietnam, after offering a coastal surveillance radar system to the Philippines, as Manila locks horns with Beijing in the South China Sea.

Such moves haven’t gone unnoticed by China. In October, Xi urged Vietnam to remember its “traditional friendship” with its neighbor during a meeting with President Vo Van Thuong in Beijing.

Xi’s trip will be a chance to nurture that relationship. The Chinese leader will be greeted at the Presidential Palace, followed by a 21-cannon salute on Tuesday before holding talks with top leaders, according to a schedule distributed by Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Those talks will include economic carrots from Xi. China is ready to provide funding to upgrade Vietnam’s railway from Guangxi province in southwestern China to Hanoi, and accelerate construction on other lines, Chinese ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo told state media at a briefing Sunday.

Vietnam’s Permanent Deputy Foreign Minister Nguyen Minh Vu also said the two sides are expected to establish a “new level” of bilateral relations, according to Vietnamese state media.

One way Xi may try to pull Hanoi onside is by pressuring it into supporting its loosely defined foreign policy vision known as a “global community of shared future.” said ISEAS’s Lye. That vision starts in Asia, Xi said in a letter published by Vietnam’s communist party newspaper ahead of his visit.

“Asia is our common home,” he said. “Neighboring countries cannot be moved away. Helping one’s neighbor is helping oneself.”

South China Sea
Thorny topics are also on the agenda, with Xi set to discuss defense and maritime issues with senior leaders including Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong, China’s Foreign Ministry said last week.

Vietnam and China have a tense military history: They fought a brief border war in 1979 and have clashed over control of island chains in the South China Sea, including in 1988 when a Chinese naval attack killed dozens of Vietnamese border guards on Johnson South Reef.

China has since built the world’s largest naval fleet and last year its Coast Guard maintained near-daily patrols in oil-producing waters off Vietnam’s coast. Hanoi has accelerated reclamation activities in the disputed Spratly Islands and repeatedly urges China to respect its sovereignty.

While similar tensions with China have helped push the Philippines toward the US, Vietnam has looked to prevent such issues derailing the overall relationship.

Over the summer, it pledged to maintain its so-called “four nos” defense policy that warns against military alliances, picking sides, hosting foreign military bases or using the threat of force in international relations.

Despite all that, Vietnam is likely to want some reassurances from Beijing over its military ambitions, as Hanoi presses its advantage after being recently courted by the US.

“They are after positive commitments on that,” said Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia, referring to the South China Sea. “That’s the major irritant in bilateral relations and there’s nothing that’s been done to make it better.”

Elon Musk forms several ‘X Holdings’ companies to fund potential Twitter buyout

3 Mins Read

Thursday’s filing dispelled some doubts, though Musk still has work to do. He and his advisers will spend the coming days vetting potential investors for the equity portion of his offer, according to people familiar with the matter

KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow