China is willing to be “a partner and a friend” of the United States, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told American business leaders in San Francisco on Wednesday, as he sought to court US companies amid a decline in foreign investment in China.
The dinner event, taking place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, comes hours after Xi held extensive talks with US President Joe Biden, where the two leaders made positive steps in stabilizing rocky relations between the world’s top two economies.
Hosted by the US-China Business Council and the National Committee on US-China Relations, the evening offered Xi a chance to appeal directly to American executives, who have grown increasingly wary of China’s economic slowdown and Xi’s tightening grip on the economy, including a widening national security crackdown that has spooked foreign businesses.
Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla founder Elon Musk and Nike executive chairman Mark Parker were among Xi’s dinner guests, according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV.
— CutC by cnn.com
