Beijing courts foreign leaders at China Development Forum as it seeks to revitalize post-‘zero-COVID’ economy.
China’s Premier Li Qiang has told Apple CEO Tim Cook and other top foreign businessmen that China will open up further, according to the country’s foreign ministry.
Cook is among a number of high-profile foreign leaders in Beijing attending the government-organized China Development Forum.
Li, a close associate of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who took office earlier this month, met with Cook and other foreign leaders on Monday, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
The annual China Development Forum — known as China’s Davos — is taking place as Beijing tries to revive its economy after scrapping a strict “zero-COVID” policy that has isolated the country for nearly three years.
Attendees at the event include former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Procter & Gamble CEO Jon Moeller, PwC Global Chairman Bob Moritz and HSBC CEO Noel Quinn.
China also faces a number of longer-term economic challenges, including a low birth rate, tensions with the United States, and business uncertainty due to regulatory interference in sectors ranging from technology to education to real estate.
Beijing has set an economic growth target of about 5 percent for 2023, the lowest target in decades, amid the uncertainties facing the world’s second-biggest economy.
Chinese officials have repeatedly tried to reassure domestic and foreign companies that the government is supporting private industry amid a sharp shift toward national security and state-led development under Xi.
During a key session of the National People’s Congress earlier this month, Li vowed that entrepreneurs and enterprises would enjoy a “better environment and greater space for development.”
Cook’s visit to China comes as Apple seeks to boost manufacturing in India and Vietnam to reduce its dependence on supply chains in the country amid rising geopolitical tensions with the West and crackdowns under Xi Jinping.
Apple supplier Foxconn’s iPhone factory in Zhengzhou has been severely disrupted by repeated lockdowns over the past year under “zero COVID”.
On Saturday, Cook was quoted in Chinese state media praising China’s rapid development and expressing his belief that it will “continue to accelerate”.
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