Reuters reported that Xi Jinping will meet Bill Gates on June 16, the first time the Chinese president has met with a foreign businessman in several years.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is on a business trip to China this week. According to Reuters , he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on June 16.
This will be the first time Mr Xi has met with a foreign private business leader in several years. The meeting is likely to be one-on-one. What the two will discuss has not been disclosed.
Gates said on Twitter on June 14 that he had arrived in Beijing, the first time since 2019. He said he would meet with partners of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation there.
Bill Gates on a business trip to the UK in February. Photo: Reuters
Gates left Microsoft's board of directors in 2020 to focus on philanthropy related to global health, education and climate change. He has been away from the company's leadership since 2018. Bill Gates is currently the fifth richest person in the world with $131 billion.
The last time the billionaire met the Chinese president was in 2015, on the sidelines of the Boao Forum for Asia in Hainan. In early 2020, Xi wrote a letter thanking Gates and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for providing $5 million in support for the country's fight against Covid-19.
The meeting will also be the first time in years that Xi has met with a foreign private business leader. He has not left China for nearly three years as the country closed its borders to control the pandemic.
A slew of foreign CEOs have visited China as the country reopens. However, they have mostly met with ministers and premiers. Chinese Premier Li Qiang met with Apple CEO Tim Cook in March. Reuters also reported that Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang.
This comes as the foreign business community is increasingly cautious about China, as US-China relations have deteriorated in recent years and Mr. Xi has become more concerned about national security issues.
Ha Thu (according to Reuters)
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