According to sources familiar with the matter, Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday during his visit to China. This meeting
would mark Xi's first encounter with a foreign private entrepreneur in recent years and is expected to be a one-on-one discussion.
Although no specific details were provided, a third source confirmed the meeting without elaborating further on the agenda. Bill Gates, in a recent tweet, announced his arrival in Beijing, stating his intention to meet with partners involved in global health and development initiatives through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
As of now, neither the foundation nor China's State Council Information Office, responsible for media queries on behalf of the Chinese government, has responded to requests for comments from Reuters.
Bill Gates stepped down from Microsoft's board in 2020 to focus on philanthropic endeavors related to global health, education, and climate change, having relinquished his full-time executive role at Microsoft in 2008.
The last reported meeting between Xi Jinping and Bill Gates took place in 2015, during the Boao Forum held in Hainan province. In early 2020, Xi expressed gratitude to Gates and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for their assistance to China, including a $5 million pledge for the country's fight against COVID-19.
Xi's engagement with foreign private entrepreneurs and business leaders has been limited in recent years, as he refrained from traveling abroad for nearly three years due to pandemic-related border closures. While a few foreign CEOs have visited China since its reopening earlier this year, their meetings have primarily been with government officials.
Bill Gates' visit coincides with Secretary of State Antony Blinken's long-delayed trip to China, scheduled for June 18-19, which aims to stabilize relations between the world's two largest economies and strategic rivals. As Sino-US tensions escalate and China intensifies its focus on national security, the foreign business community has become more cautious.
During a tense call on Wednesday, Blinken and China's foreign minister, Qin Gang, exchanged views, with Qin urging the United States to refrain from interfering in China's affairs and compromising its security. Photo by Kuhlmann /MSC, Wikimedia commons.