Global CEOs including Qualcomm Inc.’s Cristiano Amon and Saudi Aramco’s Amin Nasser will travel to Beijing for an annual gathering of top executives, people familiar with the matter say, with some expected to meet top leaders like President Xi Jinping.
Plans are being made for the chief executive officers to meet Xi on March 28, according to the people, who asked not to be identified discussing the sensitive issue. They added that the details are subject to change.
Figures who have attended the China Development Forum in the past, such as Blackstone Inc.’s Steve Schwarzman, Albert Bourla of Pfizer Inc. and FedEx Corp.’s Rajesh Subramaniam are expected to attend again this year, according to the people. The event runs from March 23-24.
Republican Senator Steve Daines, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, is expected to meet with a senior Chinese leader and representatives of US business on Saturday, some of the people said. Daines said on social media that one of the issues he’d raise is the “the flow of deadly fentanyl into our country” — a problem President Donald Trump has cited for levying tariffs on the Asian nation.
The Financial Times first reported Daines’s visit and a potential meeting between Xi and the CEOs. Neither the Foreign Ministry in Beijing nor the CDF organizers immediately replied to requests for comment.
China’s planned interaction with the top business figures underscores the message it’s been sending that the nation is open for business — contrasting itself with Trump’s more protectionist “America First” policies. Beijing is also trying to cast itself as a supporter of private enterprise, illustrated by Xi’s high-profile meeting last month with entrepreneurs like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd co-founder Jack Ma.
Xi is trying to reverse foreign investment outflows and persistent economic weakness. His government’s goal of economic output expanding by about 5% this year could be imperiled by further tariffs from Trump, levies that may require Beijing to unleash large-scale stimulus it has so far avoided.
China’s retaliatory tariffs on a range of US goods took effect last week, touching commodities from beef and poultry to grains. High-level talks between the two sides appear to be at an impasse, with officials talking past each other and failing to agree on the best way to proceed.
Officials in Beijing have said the US hasn’t outlined detailed steps they expect from China on fentanyl to have the tariffs lifted. Trump’s team rejects that, pointing to messages the White House has sent through diplomats in Washington.
The CDF started in 2000 with the backing of then-Premier Zhu Rongji, serving as a platform for high-level dialog between China and the world. Some of the CEOs will likely also attend the Boao Forum for Asia in the southern province of Hainan, which runs March 25-28. And the HSBC Global Investment Summit in Hong Kong is March 25-27.
A small group of American business leaders met Xi last year after a last-minute invite. That meeting lasted more than 90 minutes, with delegates apparently asking questions and Xi answering them. Xi said then he didn’t see the need for Washington and Beijing to decouple, and that he wants American businesses to invest in China.
Before the pandemic, Xi held more regular gatherings with executives at events such as Boao.
(Bloomberg)
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