Xi's positive message to US business captains

President Xi Jinping has called for closer trade ties with the United States during a meeting with top American business leaders in Beijing that comes amid a steady improvement in relations that had sunk to the lowest level in years.

Xi emphasized yesterday the mutually beneficial economic ties between the world's two largest economies, despite heavy US tariffs on Chinese imports and Washington's accusations of undue Communist Party influence, unfair trade barriers and theft of intellectual property.

China's economy has struggled to recover from restrictions during the pandemic that it lifted only at the end of 2022, but Xi said China is again contributing to world economic growth in the double digits percentage-wise.

"Sino-US relations are one of the most important bilateral relations in the world.," Xi was cited as saying by Xinhua news agency. "Whether China and the United States cooperate or confront each other has a bearing on the well-being of the two peoples and the future and destiny of mankind."

CCTV named the executives present- including Blackstone's Stephen Schwarzman and Qualcomm's Cristiano Amon - and said they took a group photo before the event. The meeting was said to have lasted more than an hour and a half, with delegates raising questions and Xi answering them.

Xi also acknowledged issues with the domestic economy, adding that officials can handle them and the Chinese economy has not peaked, sources said, describing the talks as open and frank.

For global executives, the meeting was a chance to underscore interest in participating in the Chinese market despite deepening geopolitical tensions and moves in China to favor local competitors.

China and the US should "seek common ground on major issues while reserving differences on minor ones," Xi said, according to a readout of the meeting.

"China's reform will not stop and its opening up will not stop," he said. The country is planning "major measures to comprehensively deepen reforms" and build a "first-class business environment."

Xi said the US and China must balance their competition with recognition that each nation's survival requires that they simultaneously cooperate, as well as avoiding conflict between a rising power and an established one, sources added.

Xi also told visiting Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that attempts to restrict China's access to technology will not stop the country's advance.

The Netherlands imposed export licensing requirements in 2023 on the sale of machinery that can make advanced processor chips. The move came after the United States blocked Chinese access to advanced chips and the equipment to make them and urged its allies to follow suit.

Xi said the creation of scientific and technological barriers and the fragmentation of the industrial and supply chains will lead to division and confrontation, state broadcaster CCTV said.