Xi Jinping meets US business leaders seeking to repair ties with China The Irish Times

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with U.S. leaders including Chubbs' Evan Greenberg and Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon on Wednesday, as U.S. business leaders sought to repair ties deteriorated by geopolitical and trade tensions between the world's two largest economies .

The gathering comes as China's trading partners grow increasingly concerned that Beijing is investing heavily in manufacturing to overcome a deep downturn in real estate, leading to oversupply and potential dumping on international markets.

The official Xinhua news agency reported that the meeting was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing and included a photo session with the leaders, who, according to Beijing's official television channel CCTV, also included the chairman of Bloomberg , Mark Carney, and Raj Subramaniam of FedEx.

He also indicated that the founder of Blackstones had joined the rally without naming him. Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman is in Beijing on an official visit.

Business leaders were in the capital this week to attend the China Development Forum, Beijing's flagship annual business conference. Xi met with U.S. business leaders in November at a dinner on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in San Francisco, hosted by the U.S.-China Business Council and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. . The leaders of the two organizations, Craig Allen and Stephen Orlins, also attended the meeting with Xi on Wednesday.

According to sources close to the matter, around twenty American leaders were to meet Mr. Xi. European heads of state who also traveled en masse to Beijing this weekend for the CDF were not invited to Wednesday's meeting. People said it was because it was organized in response to the events in San Francisco.

Relations between the United States and China have partly stabilized since Xi and US President Joe Biden held bilateral talks on the sidelines of the Apec forum.

But tensions continue to rise. The United States has vowed to investigate whether imported Chinese electric vehicles pose a security threat, while Beijing has blocked the use of Apple's iPhone and Tesla vehicles in government offices. Beijing filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization on Tuesday against US subsidies for electric vehicles.

China has sought to present a more welcoming image to international trade in recent months after foreign direct investment fell last year to its lowest level in decades.

Last week, ahead of the CDF, China announced clarification on new data laws, a move welcomed by businesses concerned about cross-border data transfers.

THE [US] “Companies that are here to serve the Chinese market or to sell into China, I think they are a little more positive than they were, say, a year ago,” said Sean Stein, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China. There are still deep structural problems holding back the economy, but the cyclical part seems to have improved, and therefore their situation in the economic cycle is better.

Business leaders have traditionally met with China's second-largest leader, the prime minister, after the CDF. That did not happen this year and Chinese Premier Li Qiang did not hold a briefing after the annual parliamentary approval meeting this month. In the past, the press conference provided a rare opportunity for national and international media to question the official in charge of the world's second-largest economy.

But there were more bilateral meetings with ministers at the CDF and the conversations were more direct than last year, participants said.

Denis Depoux, global managing director of consultancy Roland Berger, said there were more foreign visitors to this year's CDF and to the Boao Forum for Asia, another international conference which opened on the Chinese island on Tuesday from Hainan.

This feels more like 2019, Mr. Depoux said. I saw a lot more CEOs at the CDF and they were much more vocal.

China's economy is showing signs of stabilization, with industrial profits up 10.2% in the January-February period from a year earlier, according to official statistics released on Wednesday, although this is partly due to a low base in 2023.

The chief executive of a large multinational company said Beijing's rhetoric, including that of Li, who spoke at the CDF opening, was more confident than last year.

But he added that it was unclear whether this was an attempt to boost investor confidence or whether it was a genuine sentiment on the part of management, given the structural challenges of the Chinese economy.

It's very difficult to call it at the moment, he said. Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024