Some analysts also noted that Xi had only recently visited Southeast Asian states – Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia – in April this year, making a second visit to the region so soon an unlikely prospect.
Ren Xiao, a professor at the Institute of International Studies, Fudan University, noted that Beijing traditionally sends the premier to the ASEAN-China Summit, describing it as an “established practice” with “no particular reason to change this tradition”.
For instance, Premier Li Qiang participated in the inaugural ASEAN-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-China Summit in May. He also attended the East Asia Summit held on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, Laos, last October.
If Xi were to attend instead of or alongside the premier, “that would indeed be an elevation in status and a sign of greater importance attached to the meeting”.
“But whether this will happen still depends on official confirmation,” he said.
ASEAN A NEUTRAL GROUND TO MEET – BUT OTHER WINDOWS EXIST
If Xi does attend the ASEAN Summit, experts believe a bilateral meeting with Trump would be on the cards and would be highly anticipated amid strained Sino-US ties over trade, technology and security.
The most recent in-person meeting between Xi and Trump took place in Osaka in 2019 during the G20 Summit. The last time Xi met a sitting US president in person was in November 2024, when he met then-US President Joe Biden at the APEC Summit in Peru.
“Let’s face it – ASEAN is important, not for the summit itself, but for the fact that ASEAN provides a neutral ground for both sides to meet. The rest of the world would like to see a Xi-Trump meeting materialise,” Seah said.
“Whatever the excuse may be, if such a meeting can be orchestrated at the ASEAN Summit, better still because this is a consequential meeting that would set the tone and direction of Sino-US relations for the next three years,” she said.
“It has serious implications on global trade, rule of law, peace and security for different regions in the world.”
There have been “some positive signs of US-China policy from Beijing’s perspective” in recent weeks, said Zhao.
This includes US Treasury Secretary Bessent’s assurance that Washington does not seek decoupling, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remarks that ties are entering “a stage of strategic stability” following talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
“There are still opportunities to recalibrate US-China relations and reach modus vivendi for competitive co-existence during Trump’s second term,” Zhao said, using the Latin phrase for an arrangement that allows two sides to co-exist despite their differences.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/trump-xi-meeting-asean-anwar-us-china-tariff-5290291
