Bill Gates Set To Meet President Xi Jinping During His Visit To China Tomorrow

Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, is expected to visit China and meet with President Xi Jinping on Friday, Reuters reported.

Xi's encounter with a foreign private entrepreneur will be his first in recent years. The meeting may be one-on-one, according to sources.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Bill Gates announced his arrival in Beijing, marking his first visit to the city since 2019. During his stay, Gates revealed his intention to meet with partners associated with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who have been actively engaged in addressing global health and development challenges.

The foundation and China's State Council Information Office, which handles media inquiries for the Chinese government, did not reply quickly to Reuters requests for comment.

Gates stepped down from Microsoft's board of directors in 2020 to devote his time to charity endeavours in global health, education, and climate change. He left from his full-time senior role at Microsoft in 2008.

The last time Xi and Gates were seen together was in 2015, on the sidelines of the Boao forum in Hainan province. Xi wrote a letter to Gates in early 2020, thanking him and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for offering help to China, including $5 million for the country's fight against COVID-19.

The meeting would mark the end of Xi's recent sabbatical from visiting international private entrepreneurs and business executives, after the Chinese president ceased travelling abroad for nearly three years due to the pandemic.

Several international CEOs have visited China since it reopened in early this year, but the majority have met with government ministers.

Premier Li Qiang met with a group of international CEOs in March, including Apple's (AAPL.O) Tim Cook, while a source told Reuters that Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O), met with Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang last month.

Foreign business sentiment towards China, on the other hand, has shifted cautiously as Sino-US tensions rise and Xi focuses the country's attention on national security.

Gates' travel also comes ahead of a long-delayed visit to China by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, scheduled for June 18-19, with the goal of stabilising relations between the world's two largest economies and strategic adversaries.

On Wednesday, Blinken had a contentious phone chat with China's foreign minister, Qin Gang, during which Qin asked the US to quit meddling in its affairs and endangering its security.