China's Xi Jinping to meet with American executives on Wednesday, sources say (updated)

Chubb

26/03/2024 08:33

* 
      Xi to meet with U.S. executives in Beijing, sources say
    

        * 
      Meeting follows November dinner in San Francisco
    

  
 (Adds request for comment, analyst comment in paragraphs 6-7
and further context throughout)
    By Joe Cash and Antoni Slodkowski
       BEIJING, March 26 (Reuters) - China's President Xi
Jinping will meet with American business leaders in Beijing on
Wednesday, according to three sources with knowledge of the
matter, in a follow up to his November dinner with U.S.
investors in San Francisco.
    The meeting was proposed by chief executive of U.S. insurer
Chubb  CB.BN , Evan Greenberg, said one of the sources who has
direct knowledge of the matter. Other attendees include Stephen
Orlins, president of the National Committee on U.S.-China
Relations, and Craig Allen, president of the U.S.-China Business
Council.
   The audience with Xi follows Chinese Premier Li Qiang not
meeting visiting foreign CEOs at the China Development Forum in
Beijing on March 24-25, which prompted concerns over
transparency in the world's second-largest economy. 
        The chance to exchange views with Beijing's
second-ranking leader had become a key element of the summit in
previous years. 
        Foreign businesses have been trying to reconcile Chinese
leaders' public overtures towards overseas investment with the
rolling out of a broader anti-espionage law, raids on
consultancies and due diligence firms, and exit bans.
        "The lack of presser for Li Qiang at the Two Sessions
and meeting with foreign executives at the China Development
Forum shows Xi is very much in charge," said Alfred Wu,
associate professor, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in
Singapore.
    "Xi authorises everything, and Li Qiang doesn't want to
overshadow his boss," he added.
        Xi received a standing ovation when he dined with U.S.
executives at a dinner hosted by the U.S.-China Business Council
and the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations in November.
        Two sources said the meeting with Xi was not part of the
China Development Forum agenda and was deliberately scheduled
for Wednesday to separate it from the high-profile forum for
senior foreign executives and China's leaders.
    The meeting was first reported by the Wall Street Journal
last week.
    China's State Council Information Office, the National
Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the U.S.-China Business
Council, and Chubb did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
    Officials who spoke at the opening of the forum this weekend
expressed confidence China would hit its economic targets,
including growth of about 5% this year, and pledged further
support for companies in strategically important sectors, an
area Xi has dubbed "new productive forces."
    In November, Xi told American business leaders in San
Francisco that China is ready to be a partner and friend of the
U.S., and there is plenty of room for cooperation, in a bid to
overcome China's struggles to entice foreign investment.

 (Reporting by Joe Cash and Antoni Slodkowski; Editing by
Lincoln Feast and Sonali Paul)
 ((Joe.Cash@thomsonreuters.com;))