Amid frosty U.S.-China relations, Xi Jinping emphasized friendship in an address to executives from Apple, Boeing, Nike and others.
The streets outside the San Francisco hotel where the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, addressed a crowd of American business executives Wednesday night were chaotic, echoing with police sirens and the chants of protesters. A woman had strapped herself to a pole 25 feet in the air in front of the hotel, yelling “Free Tibet!” as a cold rain fell.
But inside the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency, the atmosphere was warm and friendly. More than 300 executives and officials listened attentively as Mr. Xi — the leader of a country often considered the United States’ greatest rival — spoke for over half an hour about an enduring friendship between China and the United States that could not be diminished by recent turmoil.
Mr. Xi spoke of pandas. He spoke of Ping-Pong. He spoke of Americans and Chinese working together during World War II to battle the Japanese. He addressed the tensions that have rocked U.S.-Chinese relations in the past year only briefly and obliquely, comparing the relationship to a giant ship that was trying to navigate through storms.
“The No. 1 question for us is: Are we adversaries or partners?” Mr. Xi asked. Seeing the other side as a competitor, he said, would only lead to misinformed policy and unwanted results. “China is ready to be a partner and friend of the United States.”
Among those who paid thousands of dollars to attend the dinner and hear Mr. Xi’s message were Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple; Larry Fink of BlackRock; and Jerry Brown, the former governor of California. They mingled with executives from Boeing, Pfizer, Nike and FedEx. Elon Musk popped by during the cocktail hour to greet Mr. Xi, but departed before dinner began.
Mr. Xi’s tone was welcomed by many of those in attendance, who believe that more engagement between the United States and China will improve the lives of people in both countries, reduce misunderstandings and potentially even deter a war.
“I think it’s important Americans and Chinese are meeting again face to face,” John L. Holden, managing director for China of McLarty Associates, a consultancy, said as he queued outside the hotel. “This is not a magic bullet, but it is something that can provide possibilities that wouldn’t exist otherwise.”
By Ana Swanson
Full List of Business Leaders Said to Have Spent $40K To Dine With Xi
U.S. executives spent $40,000 to dine with Chinese President Xi Jinping at a business dinner in California on Wednesday.
The Chinese politician is attending the annual meeting of 21 Pacific nations, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, this week.
According to The New York Times, tickets for a dinner and reception after the summit while executives could spend $40,000 to sit on Xi’s table, although that price also included eight seats at another table.
As per a Bloomberg News report, the top executives who sat at the Chinese leader’s table included:
- Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock
- Tim Cook, CEO of Apple
- Gina Raimondo, U.S. Commerce Secretary
- Nicholas Burns, U.S. Ambassador to China
- Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of the Blackstone Group
- Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates
- Peng Zhao, CEO of Citadel Securities
CNBC reports that Wang Wentao, Chinese minister of commerce was also at the table.
The Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party also shared images on X purporting to show the list of others invited to the dinner. As well as listing some of the above executives, the committee, run by Republican Representative Mike Gallagher, said the following executives were present:
- Stanley Deal, CEO of Boeing
- Merit Janow, former dean of Columbia University
- Milind Pant, CEO of Amway
- Darius Adamcyzk, chairman and former CEO of Honeywell
- Hock Tan, CEO of Broadcom
- Robert Goldstein, COO of BlackRock
- Joseph Bae, co-CEO of KKR
- Daniel O’Day, CEO of Gilead Sciences
- Ming Hsieh, managing director of Fulgent Genetic
Newsweek has contacted all of the reported attendees and the APEC summit by email for comment on this story and has not yet confirmed the authenticity of this list.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and owner of X, and Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff were also at the event, too. CNBC reports that Musk did not stay for the dinner.
By Kate Plummer
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