Chinese president Xi Jinping addressed Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, billionaire investor Warren Buffett and other top American and Chinese business leaders on Wednesday, vowing that his country would work to remove barriers to foreign investment and improve intellectual property protections.
Xi’s conference with the business leaders in Seattle marked the beginning of a busy day during which he also toured the Boeing production facility in Everett. It was announced that Chinese companies had agreed to buy 300 jets from Boeing, and that the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corp of China had signed a cooperation agreement with the aerospace giant to build a 737 aircraft assembly center in China.
Among the 30 executives who attended the closed-door discussion with Xi were Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Jack Ma of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
Xi told the group in a speech that was open to media that China’s economy has “big potential” and leaders will continue to remove barriers to foreign investment.
“Without reform, there will be no driving force; without opening up, there will be no progress,” Xi said through an interpreter, echoing remarks he made during a speech on Tuesday. “There is good news and I believe there will be more good news in the future.”
A big item of concern for the American CEOs was a treaty that would provide a framework for broader investment in the economy of each nation.
All the American CEOs participating in the forum signed a letter to Xi and Barack Obama, urging them to support an agreement, and they heard encouraging words from Xi on the topic on Wednesday. “Once concluded, the treaty will further ease market access and put in place more open and transparent market rules,” he said.
Bilateral investment treaties provide rules for companies doing business in other countries. The agreements can help ensure the rights of foreign investors are protected and that foreign companies operate on a level playing field with domestic ones.
An agreement with China could open up more of that nation’s massive market to American companies, provide clearer rules for Chinese investment in the US, and create jobs in both countries, supporters say.
Such treaties “can be a powerful catalyst for more economic growth”, said Evan Feigenbaum, vice-chairman of the Paulson Institute, which co-hosted the meeting.
Representatives from Twitter, Facebook and Google were notably missing from the event. China blocks those companies’ websites.
Xi heads to the White House later this week.
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