China says it's "tearing down walls", expanding its circle of trading partners and "shaking hands" instead of "shaking fists", amid its escalating trade war with the United States.
The comments from the Chinese foreign ministry came as President Xi Jinping continued his tour through South-East Asia — which US President Donald Trump said was designed to work out how countries "could screw the United States".
Mr Trump has maintained a 145 per cent tariff on Chinese imports, a move that prompted Beijing to hike its levies on US goods to 125 per cent.
"In the face of external uncertainties, China will insist on shaking hands rather than shaking fists, tearing down walls instead of building barriers, connecting instead of decoupling," foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a press briefing on Tuesday.
Beijing called the Trump administration's tariffs strategy "a joke", irritating US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
"These are not a joke. I mean these are big numbers," Mr Bessent told Bloomberg Television.
"I think no one thinks they're sustainable, wants them to remain here, but it's far from a joke."
He said any US-China negotiations would have to come from "the top," involving both presidents Trump and Xi.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) has warned the trade war could cut the shipment of goods between two economies by as much as 80 per cent and severely hurt global growth.
Will China's charm-offensive work?
Mr Xi this week started a three-nation tour of the region in Vietnam, before arriving in Malaysia.
He will visit Cambodia later this week.
Raji Pillai Rajagopalan, a resident senior fellow with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said the Chinese leader did something similar during Mr Trump's first term, but senior US officials managed to keep American policies more balanced.
"On the other hand, China was continuing its aggressive behaviour, so the yawning gap between China's rhetoric and its actions finally became issues for a lot of South-East Asian countries," Dr Rajagopalan told ABC's The World.
"China is trying to make full use of the opportunity created by the Trump administration because of its haphazard policies," she said.
It remained to be seen how successful the trip would be in drumming up support for China, Dr Rajagopalan said.
"Xi has a lot of work to do to make sure there is conformity between his actions and his words."
With the US and China involved in a tit-for-tat trade war, she said most countries won't want to align themselves too heavily with either, with Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia looking to negotiate with America on tariffs.
"The countries in the region want to have choices, want to make sure that they are left with a lot more strategic manoeuvrability," she said.
Vietnam is facing a maximum US tariff of 46 per cent, prompting China's president to call for the two countries to oppose "unilateral bullying" and to strengthen cooperation in production and supply chains.
Chinese and Vietnamese officials also signed dozens of cooperation deals during the visit, including on production and supply chains as well as railway cooperation.
Malaysia and Cambodia could face 24 per cent and 49 per cent levies, respectively.
[THE WORLD IV]A commentary published on Tuesday by China's state-run People's Daily underlined the need for unity amid the trade turbulence.
"In the face of crisis, no one can keep only to oneself," the commentary said, referencing Dorothy's adventure in the American children's story The Wizard of Oz.
"Only unity and cooperation can meet the challenge."
The commentary presented China as a benevolent advocate for free trade, spotlighting Beijing's decision to implement zero tariffs for some of its least developed partners.
China walks away from Boeing deal
Mr Trump said that China had stepped back from a major deal with Boeing, following a report that Beijing had ordered Chinese airlines not to take deliveries of the American company's products.
"Interestingly, they just reneged on the big Boeing deal, saying that they will 'not take possession' of fully committed to aircraft," Mr Trump said in a Truth Social post.
He didn't provide further details on the Boeing pact.
It followed a report in Bloomberg about the halt, which also noted Chinese carriers had been asked by Beijing to pause purchases of aircraft-related equipment from US companies.
China's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to AFP queries on the aircraft deliveries, and Boeing has declined to comment on the Bloomberg report.
On social media, the US president again took aim at Beijing on Tuesday, accusing China of not fulfilling an earlier trade deal.
He appeared to be referencing a pact that marked a truce in the escalating tariffs war during his first term as president.
China bought only "a portion of what they agreed to buy," accusing Beijing of having "zero respect" for his predecessor Joe Biden's administration.
Mr Trump also vowed to protect US farmers in the same post, noting that farmers were often "put on the Front Line with our adversaries, such as China," when there were trade tussles.
ABC/wires
