Protectionism 'leads nowhere', Xi warns

Chinese leader Xi Jinping warned that protectionism "leads nowhere" and that a trade war would have "no winners," state media said, as he arrived in Vietnam on Monday on the first leg of a Southeast Asia tour.

- Agence France-Presse

HANOI:

Xi will visit Vietnam, Malaysia and Cambodia on his first overseas trip of the year as Beijing seeks to tighten regional trade ties and offset the impact of huge tariffs unleashed by his US counterpart Donald Trump.

A line of well-wishers stood outside the Vietnamese capital's airport waving Chinese flags as Xi arrived in Hanoi for the start of a tour that Beijing says "bears major importance" for the broader region.

He said in a statement reported by China's Xinhua news agency soon after his arrival that he looked forward to an "in-depth exchange of views with Vietnamese leaders on issues concerning ties between the two parties and countries that have a global impact".