Editorial | In era of Trump, China leads the way on finding common ground

China’s most important trading relationship is with the United States. But in the midst of America’s trade and tech war, focus naturally turns to less factious partners and President Xi Jinping and other top Chinese leaders are using the tried-and-tested approach of multilateralism to the fullest. From an international economic forum in St Petersburg, Russia, earlier this month to the Group of 20 gathering in Osaka, Japan, at the end, Beijing has its eye firmly on cultivating and extending good ties. It is a strategy governments with unilateral policies, Donald Trump’s among them, should learn from.

June provides an unrivalled month of summitry for Asia. So far, leaders have gathered for annual meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Kyrgyzstan and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia in Tajikistan – both attended by Xi – and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit last weekend in Thailand. The latter is an opportunity for the region to address pressing issues. But the most important dialogue will take place in Osaka this Friday and Saturday, with the global economic uncertainties largely posed by Trump’s trade disputes top of the agenda and a highly significant meeting of the Chinese and American presidents.

The trade war has rocked China’s exports to and imports from the US. Although overall figures for goods sold overseas for May were up 1.1 per cent from a year earlier, those bound for the US were down 3.7 per cent. For the first five months of this year, exports to the US dropped 8.4 per cent, while imports fell 29.6 per cent. Offsetting those losses cannot easily be achieved, although there were substantial rises in outbound trade to the European Union and Southeast Asian countries.

There are well-established international mechanisms to deal with disputes over trade and challenges including nuclear proliferation, security and terrorism. Trump has opted to ignore these in favour of unilateral action and he has chosen threats and trade tariffs as preferred weapons. China’s approach is in stark contrast – Xi, Premier Li Keqiang and other senior officials are making a point of attending multilateral gatherings for cooperation and coordination.

Their aim is to ensure dialogue, understanding and agreements in the name of consensus. These are the principles on which Asian bodies such as Asean and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation were founded and it has served them well, ensuring that members are treated equally and decisions are fair. This is what Beijing promises with its diplomacy and projects such as the Belt and Road Initiative. Finding common ground is the best way to navigate the uncertainties created by Trump’s “America first” policy.