Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday met with a group of global business leaders in Beijing in an effort to boost investor sentiment as rising tariffs fuel uncertainty about the economy and international trade.
Xi sat down with representatives of international industrial and business firms at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing yesterday morning, Xinhua news agency reported, without elaborating.
They included Rajesh Subramaniam of FedEx Corp, Bill Winters of Standard Chartered PLC, Paul Hudson of Sanofi SA, Pascal Soriot of AstraZeneca PLC and Miguel Angel Lopez Borrego of ThyssenKrupp AG.
Photo: Reuters
Officials in attendance included Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅), Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao (王文濤) and Minister of Finance Lan Foan (藍佛安).
After the meeting, Xi said in front of reporters that seven business representatives shared their views that the Chinese government would “study and consider.”
“All of you are welcome to keep your lines of communication with us,” Xi said, praising the attendees for contributing to China’s growth and creating job opportunities.
“Foreign businesses are important participants in China’s modernization,” he added.
Slowing economic expansion and mounting geopolitical tensions have hurt the appeal of investing in the world’s second-biggest economy, with inbound investment tumbling last year to its lowest in more than three decades.
More headwinds might come next month, when the US is set to complete a review of Beijing’s compliance with the phase-one trade deal struck during US President Donald Trump’s first term and impose reciprocal duties globally.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang (李強) on Sunday said that the country is prepared for “shocks that exceed expectations,” as the government targets an ambitious growth target of about 5 percent this year.
Economists estimate that Beijing would need to unleash trillions of yuan in stimulus to hit that goal if tariffs surge.
China’s interaction with the top business figures underscores the message it has 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 meeting last month with entrepreneurs such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) cofounder Jack Ma (馬雲).
Many global chief executive officers had traveled to China for the annual China Development Forum and the Boao Forum for Asia, which concluded yesterday.
The meeting marked an upgrade from earlier years when China’s No. 2 official met executives on the sidelines of the China Development Forum, although Xi broke precedent last year to meet with a group of US businesspeople.
US Senator Steve Daines, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with several Chinese leaders, including Li, earlier this week, in what has been seen as an initial step to set up a summit between Xi and Trump.
Several US firms have already been caught in the crossfire of deteriorating bilateral relations.
Chinese authorities summoned Walmart Inc executives this month over reports it asked suppliers to bear rising costs incurred by increased US tariffs.
Beijing earlier placed Calvin Klein owner PVH Corp and US gene sequencing company Illumina Inc onto a so-called blacklist of entities as US tariffs took effect.
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