American business leaders and other executives will each pay $2,000 to attend a dinner reception for Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week, according to reports and an invitation sent out by the organizers.
The National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the U.S.-China Business Council are jointly hosting the gala in San Francisco on November 15, during which they said a "senior Chinese leader" would "delivery a major speech." Bloomberg on Tuesday named Xi as the guest of honor.
China's president is traveling to the United States for the first time since 2017 to attend the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. The White House has signaled its expectation for talks between Xi and U.S. President Joe Biden, but the Chinese foreign ministry hasn't confirmed any plans.
"The 'road to San Francisco' will not be smooth sailing and cannot rely on 'automatic driving.' The two sides must effectively 'return to Bali' and truly implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state, eliminate interference, overcome obstacles, enhance consensus and accumulate experience," ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday, referring to the last Biden-Xi summit in Indonesia almost a year ago.
U.S.-China ties remain tricky as their intense rivalry spans nearly every domain—from military might and corporate espionage to emerging technologies and global governance—and threatens to spill over into the lucrative economic relationship, which has driven decades of unprecedented prosperity in both nations.
Washington's strategic decoupling and Beijing's obsession with domestic security have left American businesses feeling uneasy. Now, with the Chinese economy in a relative slump after years of explosive growth, Xi will seek to use the trip to calm jittery foreign investors—and U.S. corporations appear eager to hear good news.
Hundreds of business leaders, including some of America's top CEOs, are expected to attend the reception. An online registration form now encourages interested parties to join a wait list.
Long-time China watcher Bill Bishop said in his newsletter on Tuesday: "$2,000 gets you entrance to a reception and a seat for the dinner, and while not on the invitation that is circulating publicly, I hear $40,000 gets you eight seats at a table plus one seat at Xi's table for your CEO, as well as access to a VIP reception."
In a sign that both the U.S. and China are aiming for more stable relations amid turmoil at home and abroad, Washington and Beijing swapped visits by senior officials in recent months, and this week held their first nuclear arms control talks in years.
While the Chinese government hasn't formally confirmed Xi's attendance at the APEC gathering, Han Zheng, China's vice president, told an event in Singapore on Wednesday that Beijing was ready to "strengthen communication and dialogue with the United States at all levels."
"The world is big enough for the two countries to develop themselves and prosper together," Han said.
Zhiwu Chen, an economics professor at the University of Hong Kong, told Germany's DW News on Tuesday that Xi's visit was motivated by economic considerations.
"In the near term, they do want to keep the economic growth situation from going down any further, because there are also increasing unemployment challenges, especially for the youth," Chen said, noting "various official and unofficial efforts" in China to create a "friendly atmosphere" for Xi's long-awaited U.S. trip.
Maya Wang, a rights advocate at Human Rights Watch, expressed dismay on X, formerly Twitter, at the American business community's apparent enthusiasm to welcome Xi.
"So you can pay $2000 to wine and dine with Xi Jinping, architect of 'crimes against humanity' against the Uyghurs, the destruction of Hong Kong's free society, the deepening repression across China. Yup, the 1% in the U.S. and China share a lot in common," she said in a post on Tuesday.
In recent months, Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), who chairs the House select committee on China, has led Congress's sharpest criticism of American corporations for maintaining close ties to the Chinese government while allegedly overlooking human rights and other concerns.
"Every foreign business that enters China takes on a sometimes silent, sometimes not-so-silent, business partner: the Chinese Communist Party," the congressman said in July. "It's time for American corporate executives to take off the golden blindfolds."
In September, Gallagher accused Apple of "corporate cowardice" over its decision to tweak the AirDrop function on the iPhone late last year, which had the effect of suppressing a rare anti-government protest by Peng Lifa—also known as "Bridge Man"—in Beijing.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
John Feng is Newsweek's contributing editor for Asia based in Taichung, Taiwan. His focus is on East Asian politics. He ... Read more
