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China and the United States are set to resume high-level trade talks in Kuala Lumpur on Friday on the sidelines of the ASEAN Summit, marking the latest attempt to stabilize ties amid escalating tariff tensions. The meetings, led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, come as both nations seek to manage their economic competition while avoiding further disruption to global markets. Chinese officials expressed hope the discussions will keep next week's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping "on track."

Trump is also set to embark on his Asia tour, which will begin with his arrival in Malaysia on Friday, followed by visits to Japan and South Korea. In Japan, he is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi early next week, with his trip culminating in South Korea, where he will meet President Lee Jae Myung and deliver a keynote address at the APEC CEO luncheon before his bilateral meeting with Xi on Thursday. Trump said he hopes to strike a "really fair and really great trade deal" with China and to address issues including trade imbalance and rare-earth export controls.

Meanwhile in Beijing, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China concluded on October 23, offering the first official glimpse of the country's next 15th Five-Year Plan. According to the communiqué released after the meeting, policymakers reaffirmed China's long-term direction toward high-quality development, emphasizing industrial modernization, technological self-sufficiency, and domestic demand expansion as central goals. The Plenum outlined priorities such as building a "modern industrial system" with advanced manufacturing at its core, accelerating breakthroughs in "key core technologies," and deepening green and digital transformation. It also reiterated China's ambition to become a "moderately developed economy" by 2035. The full draft of the 15th Plan is expected to be released at China's Two Sessions in March 2026, where specific targets and implementation measures will be detailed.

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