Published November 16, 2023
U.S. investors and businesses remain wary of the business climate in China amid an economic slowdown and crackdown on the private sector.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is using his first trip to the U.S. in six years to try and lure back American investors and businesses spooked by his country’s authoritarian turn.
But despite a warm response from U.S. business titans — who gave Xi a standing ovation at a dinner in San Francisco Wednesday night — many companies aren’t buying the Chinese leader’s assurances on his country’s business climate.
Xi’s remarks “are unlikely to resolve the legitimate concern of U.S. business leaders that [government] actions in China are making it even harder than in the past for foreign businesses to operate in China,” said Robert Holleyman, former deputy U.S. trade representative responsible for trade and investment relations with Asia.
Xi sought to assuage some of those concerns in his remarks at Wednesday’s lavish dinner, put on by the U.S.-China Business Council and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and sponsored by corporate CEOs including Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Mastercard’s Merit Janow, as well as his address to foreign leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit Thursday.
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SOURCE: www.Politico.com
RELATED: Takeaways From Biden’s Long-Awaited Meeting With Xi
Published November 16, 2023
U.S. President Joe Biden, right, and Chinese President Xi Jinping walk together after a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ week in Woodside, California, Nov. 15, 2023.
It was a meeting a year in the making.
President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping sat down together on Wednesday just outside of San Francisco, where Asian leaders gathered for an annual summit. It was almost exactly one year since their last encounter in Bali, Indonesia, on the sidelines of another global gathering.
In addition to a formal bilateral meeting, Biden and Xi shared a lunch with top advisers and strolled the verdant grounds of the luxury estate where their meeting took place.
There’s no word on whether Chinese pandas will return to Washington’s zoo. But Biden said the meeting included “some of the most constructive and productive discussions we’ve had.” Here’s a look at how the day panned out.
New agreements
Biden left the meeting with commitments on key issues.
Xi agreed to help curb the production of the illicit fentanyl that is a deadly component of drugs sold in the United States. A senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a private meeting, said the shift will be a setback for Latin American drug dealers.
“It’s going to save lives, and I appreciated President Xi’s commitment on this issue,” Biden said at a press conference after his meeting.
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SOURCE: www.voanews.com
RELATED: As Xi Heads to San Francisco, Chinese Propaganda Embraces America
After years of anti-American propaganda, the softer, warmer depiction of relations with the United States has left some Chinese social media users confused or amused.
Xi Jinping, then-vice president of China, in Iowa in 2012 in a tractor with a farmer.Credit…Pool photo by Charlie Neibergall
Published November 16, 2023
Not long ago, Chinese propaganda was warning that American attempts at easing tensions were mere performance. Its state security agency was urging people to be on guard against American spies. The country’s leader, Xi Jinping, declared that the United States was engaged in a campaign of “all-around containment, encirclement and suppression,” in remarks broadcast across state media.
Now, the tone used to discuss the United States has suddenly shifted. Xinhua, the state news agency, on Monday published a lengthy article in English about the “enduring strength” of Mr. Xi’s affection for ordinary Americans. It included old photos of him sitting in a tractor with an Iowa farmer, and revisiting the home where he once stayed in an American college student’s “Star Trek”-themed bedroom.
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SOURCE: www.nytimes.com
