Xi's visit significant to regional stability

President Xi Jinping will visit Vietnam and Singapore from Thursday to Saturday amid diplomatic tensions over US guided-missile destroyer USS Lassen's entry into the waters around China's Zhubi Reef in the South China Sea on Oct 27.

This makes Xi's itinerary of special significance to regional stability, especially because some Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states, including Vietnam, still have maritime territorial disputes with China, and Singapore is the "brain" of the 10-nation regional body.

China and Vietnam had a very friendly relationship until the late 1970s, when they fell out over border disputes. Their sovereignty-related dispute in the South China Sea in recent years has dealt a further blow to bilateral relations, which in the eyes of many Western media outlets, is a sign of waning mutual trust.