Xi Jinping meets with Microsoft’s Bill Gates and state media plays up message that China is welcoming foreign business with open arms. Blinken arrives in Beijing for what is expected to be a visit with few breakthroughs. And back in Washington, GOP politicians may try to block Biden’s planned restrictions on China technology investment.
China’s officials look ready to pivot to stimulus as bad economic news keeps rolling in. Chinese college grads “lie flat” in graduation pictures. Investment banks cut forecasts. And a series of meetings between Chinese policymakers and business leaders has some predicting a return to a more pro-market stance.
Xi faces tough challenge of raising taxes in coming years. China’s millionaires keep decamping overseas. Canadian communications director quits Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and flees Beijing. And in an interview, Kissinger calls military conflict over Taiwan “probable.”
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Bill Gates gets the royal Xi treatment
In an encounter that was all smiles and bonhomie, Xi Jinping met with Bill Gates during a visit to China by the Microsoft co-founder.
“You are the first American friend I’ve met in Beijing this year,” Xi told Gates on Friday.
“I’ve always said that the foundation of China-U.S. ties lies among the people,” Xi added. “We always pin our hopes on American people and hope the two peoples can continue to be friendly.”
"I am very glad that I can meet with my friends in China," Bill Gates wrote on Weibo shortly after arriving in Beijing before the meeting.
“Xi’s sit down with Gates raises expectations for the Chinese leader to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken who is set to visit Beijing on a two-day trip from Sunday,” reportsBloomberg News.
Watch a clip of the convivial Xi-Gates meeting here.
The decision by China’s top leader to meet with one of the America’s best-known businessmen and Xi’s comments emphasizing the importance of people-to-people exchanges, clearly intend to both bolster support from non-official U.S. actors including its companies, and simultaneously send a message to Washington that they are not the only Americans in the game.
For the record, I agree with Xi about the importance of people-to-people exchanges and very much share his hope that, as he put it, “the two peoples can continue to be friendly.”
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in Beijing, capital of China, June 16, 2023. Credit: Xinhua/Pang Xinglei
Futility of Washington’s “decoupling” or “de-risking”
“The reception of a flurry of U.S. business executives by Chinese leaders and officials presents a stark contrast to the hostile approach adopted by some U.S. politicians toward China. It also underscores the unpopularity and futility of Washington's "decoupling" or "de-risking" attempts,” writes the Global Times.
Clearly China’s state media is trying to make some political hay out of the visit and no doubt that’s the marching orders they were given. My summary of their message: “We're not hostile! you're hostile!”
Blinken lands in Beijing; will he meet Xi?
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing on Sunday morning for a two-day visit that is not expected to produce any breakthroughs in the troubled U.S.-China relationship.
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