Bill Gates, Xi Jinping hash out global health issues ahead of Blinken visit

On his first tour to China in four years, the world’s richest man and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates met with Chinese President Xi Jinping following the visits of Apple’s Tim Cook and Tesla’s Elon Musk — days ahead of the visit of US Secretary of State Antony John Blinken.

The visits came at a time when US-China bilateral ties are severed over a number of issues including Taiwan, Chinese claims of the South China Sea, the Ukraine conflict and issues about the semiconductor industry.

Gates’s primary focus on his trip is “to meet with partners who have been working on global health and development challenges” with his family’s eponymous foundation for over a decade, he said on Twitter.

Gates — one of the world’s richest men — is the latest in a string of Western business leaders to visit China since the country ended strict Covid controls that essentially closed it off from the world for almost three years.

Gates’ Foundation pledged around $50 million to help Chinese efforts to battle the disease.

During the meeting, Xi told Gates that China had always placed its hopes in the American people and hoped for continued friendship between the two countries regardless of current affairs. Gates, in turn, praised China’s efforts in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic, setting an excellent example for the world.

The billionaire’s latest visit comes at a very precarious time for US-China relations as tensions are running high over the future of advanced semiconductors and AI development, Chinese raids by officials on international companies and heightened fear of attacks on Taiwan.

Gates stepped down from his role as Microsoft chairman nearly a decade ago and left the board in 2020.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced its collaboration with the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute to support Chinese efforts to fight diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis.

The meeting comes ahead of a visit of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken Sunday to China.

Other American business leaders, including JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, SpaceX’s CEO Musk, and Apple CEO Cook, have also made their way to China, citing optimism about the country’s vast market and trade ties between the two economic powerhouses.