Chinese leader Xi issues a positive message at a meeting with US business leaders as ties improve

BEIJING (AP) — China’s nationalist leader, Xi Jinping, called for closer trade ties with the U.S. during a meeting on Wednesday with top American business leaders in Beijing that came amid a steady improvement in relations that had sunk to the lowest level in years.

Xi emphasized the mutually beneficial economic ties between the world’s two largest economies, despite heavy U.S. tariffs on Chinese imports and Washington’s accusations of undue Communist Party influence, unfair trade barriers and theft of intellectual property.

China’s economy has struggled to recover from severe self-imposed restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic that it lifted only at the end of 2022. But Xi said that China was again contributing to world economic growth in the double digits percentage-wise.

“Sino-U.S. relations are one of the most important bilateral relations in the world. Whether China and the United States cooperate or confront each other has a bearing on the well-being of the two peoples and the future and destiny of mankind,” Xi was cited as saying by China’s official Xinhua News Agency.

Participants at the meeting included Stephen A. Schwarzman, the billionaire head of investment firm Blackstone.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> READ MORE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Yellen says China’s rapid buildout of its green energy industry ‘distorts global prices’ </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Pakistan to perform DNA testing on the remains of the suicide bomber who killed 5 Chinese