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President Xi Jinping on Friday urged world leaders to ensure the stability of supply chains, saying countries needed to “join hands” instead of “breaking chains” while pointing to growing uncertainty in the Asia-Pacific region. According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Xi also repeated earlier calls for countries to uphold the multilateral trading system and protect the interests of developing economies. “Currently, the world is undergoing profound changes, a once-in-a-century transformation, with a complex and volatile international landscape, and increasing instability and uncertainty facing the Asia-Pacific region,” he said. “The more turbulent the times, the more we must work together in solidarity.” In one suggestion, Xi proposed that countries “adhere to the principle of ‘joining hands’ rather than ‘letting go’ and ‘extending chains’ rather than ‘breaking chains’, actively seeking more points of convergence of interests and supporting the open development of supply chains”. “We must practice true multilateralism and enhance the authority and effectiveness of the multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core,” he said. Xi made the comments during a closed-door meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum held in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, which was attended by leaders from countries including Australia, Canada and Japan. United States President Donald Trump skipped the event but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was present. Xi’s remarks came as Beijing has increasingly sought to portray itself as a key defender of multilateralism and a voice for the developing world. Chinese officials have been calling recently for economies to protect the stability of supply chains and uphold the multilateral order, in what has been viewed as a veiled criticism of rising unilateralism, including the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs. Xi’s speech followed his closely watched summit with Trump on Thursday, which saw the two leaders agree to dial down tensions and put on hold many thorny issues. The meeting – the first in-person encounter between the pair since Trump’s return to power – yielded some breakthroughs, particularly in areas involving soybean purchases and fentanyl tariffs, with Washington cutting fentanyl-related tariffs on Chinese goods by 10 per cent. Xi, who arrived in South Korea on Thursday, is expected to hold bilateral meetings with other world leaders, including President Lee Jae-myung, during his three-day state visit. The deepening rivalry between Washington and Beijing has threatened to upend supply chains, with moves including China’s earlier decision to expand its rare earth export curbs and US restrictions on chip exports. Beijing this month announced it would broaden the scope of its rare earth restrictions from raw materials to technology and intellectual property, a move that could affect industries ranging from electronics to electric vehicles and defence. China currently mines about 70 per cent of the world’s rare earth metals and holds 90 per cent of global processing capacity. The US relies heavily on these materials for defence manufacturing and throughout the hi-tech hardware supply chain. The US has tightened export controls on advanced chips and equipment since October 2022, when it introduced a new licensing requirement for exporting advanced computing chips to China and restricted exports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment. Under Washington’s restrictions, countries such as South Korea and the Netherlands cannot freely export domestically produced high-bandwidth memory chips using US technology or equipment either. Some of these worries were relieved slightly by China’s recent decision to pause the roll-out of its rare earth restrictions. Trump said on Thursday, after his closely watched meeting with Xi, that the subject of chips was also discussed.
