Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and fifth richest person in the world, is a Beijing this week for his first trip to the Chinese capital since 2019, before the pandemic. According to Chinese state media, during their meeting, Xi Jinping allegedly asked Gates to help promote US-China relations, greeting him warmly and calling him an "old friend." Furthermore, Xi would have added that he is adamant that the foundation of relations between the United States and China resides in the people and pins its hopes on the American people.
A strategic visit
The visit by the creator of Microsoft comes at a delicate moment for relations between the United States and China. Tensions are high over the future ofartificial intelligence and advanced semiconductors, Chinese officials' incursions into international companies, and growing concerns that China might attack Taiwan.
This is not the first time Xi has called on American business leaders to help improve relations between the two countries. In 2021, Xi wrote to former Starbucks chairman and CEO Howard Schultz, suggesting that he help promote the bilateral ties, according to Chinese state media.
In fact, Gates' trip to China is the latest in a string of recent visits by global business leaders. Last month, the CEOs of Tesla, JPMorgan e Starbucks they all flew to the country, meeting with government ministers or state officials. These visits followed similar trips in recent months by executives from Apple, Samsung, Aramco, Volkswagen.
Gates' meeting with China's leader came a day after his family's foundation pledged 50 million dollarsi for research in China for drug discovery and treatment of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria, which disproportionately affect the world's poorest.
The entrepreneur is one of the top foreign business leaders who have established themselves in China, with ecosystem which is one of the few Western tech giants to maintain a presence in the country while others have been left out. The company has had a highly influential research laboratory in the country for decades. In previous years, Gates has had good relations with Xi. In early 2020, the Chinese leader personally sent him a thank you letter for sending emergency funding to the country in the fight against the Covid-19.
Tensed relations between China and the United States
But relations between the United States and China have recently deteriorated. Last month, Microsoft warned that hacker state-backed Chinese forces were likely seeking capabilities that could be used to "disrupt critical communications" between the United States and Asia Pacific in the event of a future crisis between the United States and China.
Microsoft has claimed a report that Chinese hackers have been active since 2021 and have been targeting critical infrastructure organizations in the US territory of Guam and in other parts of the United States as part of an espionage and intelligence-gathering campaign. Organizations targeted by hackers include maritime, transportation, communications, utilities, and government sectors, among others. In a separate May notice, theFBI, the National Security Agency and other US and Western security agencies have said they believe Chinese hackers could use the same stealthy techniques against critical sectors at the world level.
Beijing responded to the allegations calling them "a collective disinformation campaign by the coalition of Five Eyesi” – referring to the intelligence sharing group formed by the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, whose security agencies jointly issued the alert.
Bill Gates' visit: what is his goal then?
Gates' visit also comes a month after his last retreat LinkedIn from China. In May, the Microsoft-owned social network announced it was cutting more than 700 jobs and shutting down its career app in mainland China. LinkedIn was the last major Western social media outlet still operating in mainland China.
While it will maintain a presence in the country, the company had already changed course by shutting down the local version of its service in 2021 for a new platform dedicated only to China, citing a challenging operating environment. Now this new platform will also be gradually eliminated.
Bill Gates specified on Twitter that the target of his visit official is therefore to “meet partners working on global health and development challenges” with the foundation named after him.
