Some of the biggest names in technology met inside the Seattle Westin on Wednesday morning, coming together with China President Xi Jinping to discuss the state of Chinese-U.S. business relationships.
The roundtable boasted a star-studded lineup including names like Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Alibaba founder Jack Ma, IBM CEO Virginia Rometty and other industry big wigs, from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz to Warren Buffett. The event included 30 CEOs in all, 15 from U.S. companies and 15 from Chinese companies.
“We will be firmly committed to the win-win strategy of opening up and continue to draw strength from the world,” Xi told the executives during his opening remarks, according to translated audio provided by a pool reporter attending the event. The opening remarks were the only part of the discussion that selected media outlets were invited to hear.
Xi spent the majority of his time making a case for why U.S. companies should be investing in China.
“To deepen China-U.S. business cooperation is important to the development of both countries and the prosperity of the world,” he said.
Chinese markets are a driving force behind the global economy and hold massive opportunities for U.S. companies doing business there. But the two countries are still two very different places, and tensions over issues such as cybersecurity, censorship and intellectual property rights still linger.
But Xi has used the visit as a chance to talk to U.S. executives directly, hoping to help bridge the divide. During his remarks on Wednesday, he spent most of his time reassuring everyone at the table that the Chinese economy is as strong as ever.
“I would like to say the longterm positive trend of the Chinese economy will not change,” Xi said. “It is true that recently the Chinese economy has been faced with a moderation in speed and downward pressure with some ups and downs on the stock market. This is a result of the impact of the world economy, our own proactive macro regulation and certain protracted structural problems in China. We are clearly aware of the risks and challenges in China’s economy and we are adopting measures to address them in a proactive way, despite difficulties of one kind or another.”
Wednesday morning’s roundtable was just the most recent event during Xi’s highly-anticipated Seattle visit. He is stopping by the area on his way to meet with President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. later this week.
You can watch his entire speech here, thanks to our media partner King 5.
Xi and the Chinese delegation were scheduled to visit Boeing’s plant in Everett and Microsoft’s campus in Redmond after this morning’s meeting.
