Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has asked former Starbucks chief executive officer Howard Schultz to help repair US-China relations that have plunged to their lowest level in decades amid a trade dispute and tension over technology and security.
A letter from Xi to Schultz reported on Friday by the official Xinhua news agency was a rare direct communication from China’s leader to a foreign business figure.
Schultz had opened Starbucks’ first outlet in China in 1999 and is a frequent visitor.
Photo: AP
Xi wrote to Schultz “to encourage him and Starbucks to continue to play an active role in promoting Chinese-US economic and trade cooperation and the development of bilateral relations,” Xinhua reported.
In a statement issued on the same day, Schultz did not directly address Xi’s request to help repair relations, but said it was “a great honor” to receive the letter from China’s president.
Schultz said Xi was replying to a letter Schultz recently sent him along with a Chinese-language edition of his book, From the Ground Up: A Journey to Reimagine the Promise of America.
Xinhua reported that Schultz congratulated Xi on “the completion of a well-off society” under his leadership.
Schultz did not release a copy of his letter to Xi, but he said that he shared his respect for the Chinese people and culture.
In his statement, Schultz said that he has formed many close relationships with Starbucks employees in China, which is Starbucks’ biggest market outside the US.
It has 4,700 stores and 58,000 employees in nearly 190 Chinese cities.
“I truly believe Starbucks best days are ahead in China and that the values of creativity, compassion, community and hard work will guide the company toward an even greater business and community contribution, while continuing to build common ground for cooperation between our two countries,” Schultz said in his statement.
Starbucks said it had no comment.
Schultz in 2017 stepped down as Starbucks’ chief executive and in 2018 retired as chairman of the company.
Xinhua gave no indication whether the letter reflected an initiative to ask corporate leaders in the US to help change policy after US president-elect Joe Biden takes office on Wednesday.
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