April 2024

2024-03-30 18:51:30

On March 25, 2024, the Communist Party of China held the China Development Forum in Beijing. On March 27, Xi Jinping, leader of the Communist Party of China, met with representatives of the U.S. business community who participated in the forum. (Pedro Pardo/AFP via Getty Images)

[The Epoch Times, March 30, 2024](Reported by Epoch Times reporter Lin Yan) It is reported that following 15 American business leaders met with Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping in a closed-door meeting, these people not only failed to alleviate their concerns, but actually aggravated them negative expectations for the Chinese economy.

What did Xi Jinping say during the closed-door discussion? How has the business community responded? The Chinese Communist Party’s official media did not report it.

The purpose of this meeting was that Xi wanted to directly appease foreign companies and release positive economic signals. However, the executives interviewed admitted following the meeting that “business is still very bad” and confidence in the Chinese economy is very low.

CNBC contributor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera revealed on social media , and American executives who discussed with Xi Jinping. The executive anonymously told the media that during the one-and-a-half-hour meeting, the entrepreneurs asked tough questions, and Xi Jinping also gave tough responses.

During the meeting, Xi Jinping sought to reassure executives that China’s economy was “healthy and sustainable” and that the Chinese market remained important to foreign companies. Xi reassured that China’s development would not peak due to the “China peaking theory.” But at the same time, Xi repeatedly said that every country has its own difficulties and Beijing knows how to solve its own problems.

The framework of the talks was basically the same as Xi Jinping’s past statements, such as “I will never accept bossy preaching like a ‘teacher’.”

In an interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” program on the 28th, Caruso Cabrera said that the reality is that China’s business environment is still very bad, but Xi Jinping has made it clear that Beijing will not give up economic centralization.

Xi’s focus is on supporting state-owned enterprises. Private enterprises will always be small businesses.

When executives mentioned private companies at the meeting, Xi Jinping corrected himself and said, “You are talking regarding small businesses.” Caruso-Cabrera said that from Beijing’s perspective, small businesses can never catch up with large state-owned enterprises, which means that small businesses are not as stable as large state-owned enterprises, so they must support state-owned enterprises.

The CEO also revealed that although private enterprises were mentioned several times during the talks, the Chinese Communist Party leader always dragged the focus back to support for the large state-owned enterprises that dominate the economy.

“They like companies that are owned and controlled by the state,” Caruso-Cabrera said. “But this is not a recipe for China’s economic growth.”

She said that the U.S. companies participating in the meeting began investing heavily in China 20 or 30 years ago, but the current business environment is completely different from when these companies first entered.

Xi wants to centralize economy, Chinese tycoons sell off private jets

According to Caruso-Cabrera’s post on X on the 27th, US business executives who discussed with Xi Jinping said that there is no sign that Xi will change the trend of economic centralization. Xi Jinping also emphasized that China’s governance system will not change. .

Executives at the meeting revealed that China’s richest people are generally worried and have sold off assets seen as showing off their wealth, including private jets, because “it is dangerous to have money in China” and now they are trying to move their money abroad. He even mentioned that he knew that at least 10 million new jobs must be created for fresh graduates every year.

It is reported that Xi Jinping particularly emphasized during the talks that Taiwan is a red line and said that China does not interfere in the borders of other countries, so other countries should not try to interfere with their borders.

But the fact is that the CCP has frequently invaded neighboring countries and is still bullying ships from the Philippines, Taiwan and other countries or regions in the South China Sea.

Capital flows back to the United States from China, U.S. stocks have surged recently

Caruso-Cabrera said on the show that according to her observations, because the American business community no longer invests in China, there has been a sharp increase in domestic asset allocation in the United States recently.

She mentioned a very interesting question. In the past, American investors were worried regarding Japan, but the “lost decade” of Japan’s economy did not hurt the United States. Will the United States definitely be dragged down by China’s slowdown in growth? Considering there are so many businesses investing in the United States right now.

Caruso-Cabrera said that the difference is that the United States was not worried regarding Japan back then, but now it is worried regarding the CCP attacking Taiwan.

She mentioned that U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen is paying attention to the CCP’s “three new” dumpings around the world, including electric vehicles, solar panels, and lithium-ion batteries. Yellen will visit China once more in April.

The Biden administration is worried that Beijing’s measures to revive China’s flagging economy will trigger a flood of low-priced goods exports and destabilize global markets.

Faced with the severe drag on economic growth caused by China’s real estate crisis, the Communist Party of China has been prioritizing manufacturing rather than solving the most serious problem of underconsumption.

In addition to U.S. unease over China’s supportive policies, the European Union intends to impose additional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles entering the bloc, citing new evidence that Beijing is providing illegal financial support to the industry.

According to Reuters, many foreign executives share a cautious attitude when leaving China, that is, the risks of expanding business in China still outweigh the rewards.

Editor in charge: Lin Yan#

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