A group of US executives, including FedEx Corporation CEO Raj Subramaniam, met with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Monday. China hopes the influential lobby group can help US companies “play a strong role” in the world’s second-largest economy.
China’s official Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, confirmed that Subramaniam, chairman of the US-China Business Council, led the delegation in its meetings with He and Wang.
The visit came after the conclusion of China’s closely watched Third Plenum.
The four-day Third Plenum ended on Thursday, and a decision document outlining a wide range of measures approved by the ruling Communist Party’s Central Committee was released on Sunday.
Vice-Premier He said China hoped the US-China Business Council could ‘play a strong role’ in encouraging American companies to seize opportunities in the modernisation process with China, leading to win-win cooperation and development.
In an official Foreign Ministry statement, Wang said the group had come to Beijing at the ‘right time’ because they could feel the ‘new mood’ of China, which is undergoing deep and comprehensive reform.
A pleasant environment for the US and China will benefit everyone, but an unpleasant environment between the two countries will naturally lead to the suppression of cooperation and exchanges,” Wang said, adding: We hope the US-China Business Council will use its connections and influence, combined with its actual experience in China, to talk to the US administration and Congress about China in a realistic, objective and rational way.
As the US presidential election approaches in November, US-China relations have come to the fore, with Republican Party candidate and former president Donald Trump proposing high tariffs on Chinese products.
Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, has also targeted China, describing it as “the greatest threat” to the United States.
Roberta Lipson, CEO of healthcare company Chindex International, Brendan Nelson, president of Boeing Global, Amit Sevak, president and CEO of Educational Testing Service, and Craig Allen, president of the US-China Business Council, also attended the Beijing meetings.
Subramaniam said he hoped the US business sector would ‘continue to explore the Chinese market with confidence’ and that the US-China Business Council could ‘contribute more’ to bilateral trade and investment relations, the People’s Daily reported.
Ahead of the delegation’s arrival in Beijing, the Guangzhou government said the US business representatives also met with Mayor Sun Zhiyang on Friday, who said the southern city was the ‘first choice destination’ for American companies looking to invest in China.
According to the Guangzhou government, the meeting was attended by business information company Dun & Bradstreet Holdings, General Electric, industrial manufacturer Milliken & Company, FedEx, food company Kraft Heinz, medical device company Becton, Dickinson and Company and agricultural company Cargill.
According to the Southern Daily, the delegation also met with Guangdong Governor Wang Weizhong on the same day.
