China’s Xi likely to skip October ASEAN leaders summit, sources say

BEIJING/KUALA LUMPUR: Chinese President Xi Jinping is unlikely to attend a major summit of Asian leaders in October, two people familiar with the matter said, dashing expectations of a potential meeting with US President Donald Trump at the event.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim this month had said both Xi and Trump were expected to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) October 26-28 leaders’ summit in Kuala Lumpur.

That led analysts to speculate that Trump and Xi, locked in an uneasy trade truce, may have their first in-person encounter of Trump’s second term.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who attended another ASEAN summit with Gulf leaders in May, is expected to represent China at the October meeting, two regional sources said, declining to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The office of Anwar, the current chair of the 10-member bloc, directed queries to Malaysia’s foreign ministry, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Xi’s attendance.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Anwar told Malaysia’s parliament last month Trump had confirmed his attendance at the event during a phone call with the U.S. leader.

Trump said earlier this month he will meet Xi before the end of the year if a trade agreement is struck, adding that “we’re getting very close to a deal”.

Aides for both presidents have discussed a possible autumn meeting in Asia around the time of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in South Korea on October 30-November 1, Reuters previously reported.

The annual ASEAN summit would mark Trump’s first trip to Southeast Asia since his 2019 meeting with North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong Un in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi. He is also expected to attend the APEC summit.

It is rare for Chinese presidents to attend ASEAN summits, with Xi only having joined a 2021 special summit virtually since he gained power in 2012. Attendance by U.S. presidents is also uncommon - Trump attended in 2017, while President Joe Biden joined Xi remotely in 2021.

Biden also attended the summit in person in Cambodia the following year.

Anwar said this year’s annual summit would aim to deliver “ASEAN’s largest and most high-profile gathering of world leaders to date”, with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa also expected to attend.

Washington and Beijing last week extended a tariff truce for another 90 days, staving off triple-digit duties on each other’s goods while negotiations continue to address the trade imbalance, market access and rare earths among other issues.

Trump’s global tariffs offensive has shaken Southeast Asia, a region heavily reliant on exports and manufacturing and in many areas boosted by supply chain shifts from China.

Washington announced tariffs of about 19% across major Southeast Asian economies’ exports earlier this month, far lower than previously threatened, after the White House had explicitly warned regional countries against so-called transshipment of Chinese goods to the U.S.