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https://scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1860985/just-say-open-sesame-chinas-doors-will-always-open-us Diplomacy
‘Just say open sesame’: Doors to the Chinese market will always be open to US companies, says Xi Jinping
Chinese president promises support as he urges more American companies to set up shop in China during meeting with US business elites
Chinese President Xi Jinping waves after giving a speech at Microsoft's main campus in Redmond, Washington. Photo: AFP
Chinese President Xi Jinping has assured American business leaders that the doors to China’s market would always open for them – like those of the cave in the classic story of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.
“It’s like Ali Baba – ‘open sesame’. Once it’s open, it won’t be closed,” Xi said.
The president was speaking during his meeting on Wednesday with a group of US and Chinese business leaders representing US$3 trillion in market value. Those present included billionaire investor Warren Buffett, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Xi also urged more American companies to set up their regional headquarters in China.
“We support large American businesses in setting up regional headquarters or research and development centres in China, and encourage more small- and medium-sized companies to expand businesses in China. Meanwhile, China will keep increasing its investment in the United States,” he said.
“We will continue to build a law-based business environment, an open environment.”
The US-China Business Roundtable was followed by a closed-door event billed as an opportunity for the 30 chief executives present. The CEOs sat in a rectangle around Xi as he spoke, Americans on one side and Chinese on the other.
“Chinese companies also hope to see substantive steps by the US to ease restrictions on exports for civilian, hi-tech items to China and create a level playing field for Chinese investment in the US,” Xi said.
Chinese corporate leaders at the event, hosted by the Paulson Institute and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, included internet giant Baidu’s Robin Li, Tencent’s Pony Ma as well as e-commerce giant Alibaba, according to The Washington Post.
“China will open up still wider to the outside world,” Xi said through an interpreter. “Without reform, there will be no driving force; without opening up, there will be no progress ... There is good news and I believe there will be more good news in the future.”
The county would “stand firm” to protect intellectual property rights, the president added.
Xi’s busy stop on the West Coast – the first leg of his week-long trip to the US – offers him a chance to highlight China’s cooperation with American firms before he heads to Washington, where he will contend with the full spectrum of irritants in relations, from tensions in the South China Sea to human rights.
The US businesses that operate in China and cooperate with Chinese counterparts had played a positive role in China’s development and, by harvesting generous profits, helped boost the American economy, Xi said.
“Chinese companies’ investment in the US has also been on the rise in recent years, creating a great number of job opportunities in the country ... GM and Ford can increase their investment in China.”
To the east of Seattle, at Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, China’s top internet regulator told US tech executives that both countries must work together on cybersecurity issues, including crime and espionage, addressing one of their most pressing concerns.
“We are in the same boat,” said Lu Wei, at the eighth annual meeting of the US-China Internet Industry Forum. “The only choice we have is to cooperate.”
In a closed-door session that followed, Lu gave the impression that China and the US were set to reach some kind of agreement on cyberwarfare to ban attacks on infrastructure in peacetime, according a source present, who asked not to be named given the privacy of the meeting.
Xi later visited Microsoft’s campus, where he was greeted by co-founder Bill Gates, CEO Nadella and other top executives.
He was then led to a gathering of American and Chinese CEOs and was greeted, among others, by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who spoke to the Chinese leader in Mandarin. The conversation, which was private, lasted about a minute. Facebook is banned in China.
Although some companies had privately spread word that the meeting with their CEOs could prove significant and last an hour or more, it was in fact little more than pleasantries and a photo op.
A Microsoft spokeswoman said Xi spoke for about six minutes and that none of the US business leaders responded.
Late on Wednesday, Xi sampled a bit of American teen culture, visiting Lincoln High School in Tacoma, south of Seattle, along with first lady Peng Liyuan. They watched the school’s football team practice before addressing students in a packed auditorium.
The president urged the pupils to carry on the spirit of ping pong diplomacy that 40 years ago was so important in boosting US-China relations.
“Ping pong balls are small. Much smaller than the American football,” Xi deadpanned, as the auditorium erupted in laughter.
Reuters, Associated Press
Business leaders who attended the US-China CEO Roundtable
American CEOs
- Mary Barra, General Motors
- Jeffrey Bezos, Amazon
- Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway
- John Chambers, Cisco Systems
- Tim Cook, Apple
- David Cote, Honeywell
- Robert Iger, Walt Disney
- Ellen Kullman, DuPont
- Andrew Liveris, The Dow Chemical Company
- Satya Nadella, Microsoft
- Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo
- Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing
- Thomas Pritzker, Hyatt Hotels
- Virginia Rometty, IBM
- Howard Schultz, Starbucks
- Henry M. Paulson, Jr., Paulson Institute (host)
Chinese CEOs
- Jack Ma Yun, Alibaba
- Lu Guanqiu, Wanxiang
- Ma Huateng, Tencent
- Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo
- Wang Yusuo, ENN Energy
- Ma Zehua, China Ocean Shipping Company (Cosco)
- Guan Qing, China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC)
- Wan Long, Shuanghui Group
- Tian Guoli, Bank of China
- Jiang Jianqing, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)
- Pan Gang, Yili Group
- Robin Li, Baidu
- Liang Haishan, Haier
- Wang Jinshu, Yuhuang Chemical Industry
- Guo Guangchang, Fosun