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🇸🇬 Singapore /Economy & Trade

Xi plans to take a large CEO delegation to Washington, sources say

From The Straits Times · () English

Translated from English and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Newswire Unnamed sources Ongoing story
  • Xi Jinping is preparing to take a large group of Chinese business executives to Washington for a Sept. 24 summit with Donald Trump, according to two sources.
  • The delegation would signal Beijing’s interest in investment and commercial ties while potentially offering the White House economic gains before U.S. midterm elections.
  • The plan comes as Washington has tightened restrictions on Chinese companies and investments, while China has rarely included corporate leaders in Xi’s overseas travel.

Xi Jinping is preparing an unusually large business delegation for his planned Sept. 24 summit in Washington, according to two sources familiar with the discussions. Reuters could not determine which executives would attend.

Xi rarely travels abroad with corporate leaders. Many Chinese private-sector executives lost favor after Beijing began regulatory crackdowns on the technology, education and property industries in 2020. Bringing them to Washington would signal that China wants to support investment and commercial ties with the United States, one source said. It could also give the White House potential economic gains ahead of U.S. midterm elections.

My sense is that the Chinese... are going to be more intentional about the role of these business people in having them join the delegation.

· Scott KennedyThe Chinese business expert described how Chinese officials may involve executives more actively in the Washington delegation.

Chinese companies now face extensive scrutiny in the United States. Washington has imposed a 100% tariff on imported Chinese electric vehicles, banned foreign drone, router and robot imports, and forced the divestiture of TikTok’s U.S. operations. Major Chinese technology companies have also been placed on a national-security Entity List or a Pentagon blacklist.

really valuable

· Scott KennedyKennedy assessed the possible participation of Chinese executives in the summit delegation.

Xi last brought a sizeable business contingent to the United States in 2015. That group included Alibaba founder Jack Ma, Tencent founder Pony Ma, executives from Chinese banks and representatives of state-owned companies. During the visit, China signed a $38 billion agreement covering 300 Boeing aircraft. Xi also met technology executives including Apple’s Tim Cook, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Donald Trump has taken a different approach, traveling to China with large groups of American executives, including during visits in 2017 and May this year. In May, Trump brought 18 executives, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Elon Musk, according to the sources. Scott Kennedy of the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Chinese officials appeared likely to be more deliberate about giving business leaders an active role. He called their participation “really valuable,” while describing the U.S. delegation in May as assembled at short notice, with executives acting as “more wallflowers than serious participants.”

more wallflowers than serious participants

· Scott KennedyKennedy contrasted the planned Chinese delegation with the U.S. business delegation that visited China in May.
About this summary

Originally published by The Straits Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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