BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping met with top U.S. executives in Beijing on Wednesday as his government tries to reassure foreign businesses about a market that remains crucial for their bottom lines despite persistent tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.
Xi met the group of American businesspeople and academics at the Great Hall of the People, Chinese state media reported. The meeting was preceded by a group photo.
Participants included Blackstone founder Stephen Schwarzman, Bloomberg Chair Mark Carney, FedEx President Rajesh Subramaniam and Qualcomm President and CEO Cristiano Amon, according to state media reports.
During the meeting, Xi said the Chinese economy was “healthy and sustainable,” an achievement that “cannot be separated from international cooperation,” according to state media, which reported that he “listened carefully” to the American participants.
The executives were in China for a series of business-related events, including the China Development Forum, an annual high-level meeting that ended Monday. Other prominent U.S. business leaders, such as Apple CEO Tim Cook, have also been in China in recent days as the government and American companies engage in a mutual charm offensive.
China has been struggling to bounce back from three years of pandemic isolation, its economic recovery weighed down by structural issues that include a real estate crisis, high local government debt, industrial overcapacity, lackluster consumption and youth unemployment, though the economy managed a 5.2% growth rate last year.
“The mood here is still pretty dark — about the economy, about the trajectory of the country overall, about China’s place in the world,” Scott Kennedy, senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, CSIS, in Washington, said in an interview in Beijing last week.
“There’s been some economic recovery, but it has not…
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