China's president is offering a friendly face to Southeast Asia in a trip to several countries that President Obama canceled because he said he needed to remain in Washington over budget talks.
BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping courted Malaysia on Friday with a huge trade pact, closer military ties and simple flattery — telling the Malaysian prime minister he felt they were old friends even on their first acquaintance.
President Obama, pursuing his administration's so-called "Asia pivot," planned to follow in Xi's footsteps next week, visiting Malaysia and the Philippines after regional summits in Indonesia and Brunei. The cancellation Thursday of Obama's entire Asia trip, blamed on the U.S. government budget battle, instead leaves the diplomatic floor to Xi and China.
Southeast Asia carries global weight as a major part of Asia's growing economy but also bears strategic significance as a potential flashpoint, given China's assertive claims to many remote, South China Sea islands belonging to Southeast Asian nations including Malaysia.
"Our two countries have proven to be good neighbors, good friends and good partners who go through thick and thin together," Xi told the business community Friday in the capital Kuala Lumpur, reported The Star, a Malaysian newspaper.
His trip is business-focused as China and Malaysia agreed on ways to deepen already extensive economic ties that saw China recently overtake the USA as Malaysia's biggest trading partner. On Friday, Xi and Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak signed a pact to almost triple two-way trade to $160 billion by 2017, and agreed to elevate bilateral ties into a formal "comprehensive strategic partnership."
Relations are boosted by demography: One-quarter of Malaysia's population is ethnic Chinese. The nation will host the first Chinese university outside of China, the Xiamen University Malaysia Campus, Najib said Friday. Malaysia hopes to lure more Chinese tourists and secure 5% of China's expected $500 billion of outbound investment over the next five years, said International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed, reported The Star.
"For a long time, Malaysia is not as hard-line as Vietnam and the Philippines, so China is trying to win Malaysia over softly," said Li Jinming, a South China Sea expert at Xiamen University, in southeastern China. "Most Asean countries also realized they must keep good relations with China as a priority," he said of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Xi launched his charm offensive Wednesday in Indonesia, the largest nation in Southeast Asia, and will return there Saturday for a meeting next week of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum on the island of Bali.
Premier Li Keqiang will represent China at the later East Asia Summit in Brunei. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will stand in for Obama throughout the trip the U.S. President planned to take.
At both summits, Chinese officials may seek progress on Beijing's multinational trade agreement: the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. The USA is pushing a separate free-trade deal, Trans-Pacific Partnership.
'USA TODAY
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