Chinese leader Xi Jinping told Microsoft co-founder and chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill Gates on Friday that his country has “always placed our hopes” in the American people, state media reported. According to the Associated Press, the meeting took place in Beijing’s Diaoyutai state guesthouse and involved top diplomat Wang Yi. The two discussed how the US and China could work together to solve problems facing both countries, the AP said. “I hope the friendship between the Chinese and Americans will continue to grow,” Xi said, per a CCTV report. The Xi-Gates meeting comes on the heels of high-profile visits to China by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon. The trip by Gates, one of the world’s wealthiest men, is his first to China since the country lifted strict Covid-19 controls last year. In early 2020, Xi sent a letter thanking him and the Gates Foundation for supporting China’s efforts to combat the pandemic.
During his visit, Gates announced that his foundation and the city of Beijing would donate $50 million to the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI). The institute is a joint project between the Gates Foundation and Tsinghua University. He said the fund would be used to develop new drugs and vaccines for infectious diseases, including malaria. Gates praised China for eradicating malaria within its borders and for the work of scientists there working to do so around the globe.
At the meeting, Xi told Gates that the two countries should blaze a path for a new type of relationship between major powers that features equality, mutual trust, tolerance, mutual learning, and cooperation. Xi also hoped that more visits by Gates and others could strengthen bilateral ties.
Ahead of the meeting, Gates praised China’s recent efforts to fight poverty and disease and warned that the world faces several threats, including the resurgence of infectious diseases, climate change, and hunger. He also urged both nations to work together on security issues.
In his address to the meeting, Gates said he was looking forward to his visit to China because of the great potential for cooperation between the two countries. He praised Xi for making the meeting possible and called for continued cooperation between countries governments, businesses, and citizens. The meeting came ahead of a visit to Beijing by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is expected to arrive Sunday for a long-delayed trip to reset strained relations between the world’s largest economies and strategic rivals. He will likely discuss US concerns about trade imbalances and China’s assertiveness in regional affairs during the visit. It is unclear whether Blinken will meet with Xi, though the visit was scheduled before tensions rose over alleged Chinese spy balloons flying in the United States.
