The Chinese president received a standing ovation on Wednesday when he told American business leaders that China was “ready to be a partner and friend of the United States.” Nearly 300 people, including many business leaders, paid the modest sum of $2,000 (1,840 euros) to listen to Xi Jinping at a dinner organized on the sidelines of the Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) summit. ) at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in San Francisco.
And not least. Elon Musk, boss of Tesla, Tim Cook, of Apple, and Albert Bourla, of the pharmaceutical group Pfizer, were there, keen to sell more electric cars, iPhones or pharmaceutical products in the world’s second largest economy. The bosses of the top twenty companies established in China were present, a participant told the Financial Times. “We should build more bridges and roads for people-to-people interactions,” not put up “various obstacles,” Xi Jinping said.
But if the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party intends to show that, despite the tensions, China remains open for business, many companies present there consider that the authorities are making their lives more and more difficult. And criticism also comes from the American side. In the name of Beijing’s repression of the Uighurs, a member of the House of Representatives on Tuesday described as “unacceptable” the fact that bosses pay to attend a dinner with Xi Jinping.