Xi Jinping received Bill Gates in Beijing with great fanfare. The Chinese communist leader called the philanthropist and Microsoft founder the first American friend I’ve met this year. Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Beijing from Washington, whom Xi certainly does not consider a friend. Diplomatic and even military tensions between the two superpowers remain high.
The meeting with Gates follows a string of visits to China by American capitalists since China reopened its borders following the pandemic: the most prominent, I think, include Apple’s Tim Cook, Tesla’s Elon Musk and JP banker Jamie Dimon Morgan Chase. None of these had been personally received by Xi Jinping, as was the case with Gates, but all the others had meetings with senior members of the Chinese ruling group.
Can I speculate why Gates was treated even better than the others? Apple has a large industrial footprint in China, where the company makes 85% of its iPhones and iPads, but has announced plans to shift 40% to India and Vietnam, the most prominent example of “friendshoring,” or relocation to friendly countries. That’s why Cook is seen as a valuable friend of China, but with a worrying intent to diversify his friendships and balance the risks.
Musk is another important partner, his Tesla has the largest factory in the world right in the People’s Republic; contributed significantly to the launch of the electric car “made in China”. But even the majority shareholder of a social medium – Twitter – is banned in China; as well as the head of Space X, which provides its satellite services to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In short, Musk is another character that the Chinese respect and value, even if they have doubts about his reliability.
Since Gates has not had operational power over Microsoft for years, he cannot be held responsible for Microsoft’s decision to relocate its Asian team of artificial intelligence researchers from China to Canada, a gesture certainly unwelcomed by China’s communist leadership .
Jun 17, 2023 5:14pm – Edit Jun 17, 2023 | 17:43
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