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As US President Donald Trump showered praise on his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday, the CEOs of several US aviation, commodities, technology, and finance conglomerates looked to advance their business interests by meeting the heads of powerful Chinese regulators and ministries.
These include GE Aerospace, Boeing, Qualcomm, Cargill, Visa, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup, who held talks with the leading officials of Chinese government agencies such as the commerce ministry, state planner, securities regulator, and central bank, according to official government statements and state-backed media reports published on Friday and yesterday.
The executives are hoping the political goodwill generated by the bonhomie between the two leaders can trickle down to China’s bureaucratic apparatus and unlock regulatory approvals, lucrative purchase deals, and even solve thorny issues in the world’s second-largest economy.
The corporate diplomacy push came as analysts questioned the effectiveness of Trump’s strategy to woo Xi into opening up China for US companies, as he seemingly left Beijing with far fewer trade and investment deals than in 2017.
“The summit served as a crucial window for attending US CEOs to reinforce corporate diplomacy and directly position their strategic asks with top Chinese authorities,” said Alfredo Montufar-Helu, a Beijing-based managing director at Ankura China Advisors.
The chairman of China’s securities regulator and Beijing’s party secretary held talks with Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser in China and discussed enhancing co-operation in wealth management and cross-border financing, state-backed media said yesterday.
Beijing Party Secretary Yin Li said China welcomed Citigroup to expand its business further and help attract more international companies and investment to the country, the state-backed Beijing Youth Daily reported.
Wu Qing, chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), also met Fraser, the regulatory body said in a statement. The two exchanged views on issues including the global economic and financial environment and the opening up of China’s capital markets.
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