Photo : Collected
Chinese President Xi Jinping met with representatives of US businesses Wednesday as Beijing seeks to woo foreign investment and reassure American firms in the face of a slowing economy. Officials are keen to bring in investment to kickstart growth as they battle a range of headwinds including a prolonged property-sector crisis, soaring youth unemployment and a global slowdown that is hammering demand for Chinese goods.
Hosting the group of executives at Beijing's Great Hall of the People, state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi chuckling as he expounded on what he characterised as the mutual reliance between Beijing and Washington.
Among the attendees was Cristiano Amon, CEO of Qualcomm, a major producer of semiconductors -- which are at the forefront of US-China tech rivalry -- a photo released by Beijing's foreign ministry showed. Also in attendance was Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of private equity giant Blackstone. "Differences will always exist, because people are different, and even people from the same family are different, too," Xi said. "But we should seek common ground and build more consensus. This is true between nations and as well as between family members," he added.
Xi said that "the history of China-US relations is a history of friendly exchanges between the two peoples". "People from all walks of life in both countries should have more exchanges and more cooperation." Xi told the US executives that "as long as both sides see each other as partners and show mutual respect, coexist in peace and cooperate for win-win results, China-US relations will get better," according to a readout published by the Chinese foreign ministry.
The ministry did not name all the participants, but photos indicated that Apple CEO Tim Cook -- who recently visited China -- was not in attendance.
