Bill Gates announced he is in China for the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic began, becoming the latest high-profile business titan to visit the country in recent months.
"I’ve just landed in Beijing for the first time since 2019, where I’m excited to visit with partners who have been working on global health and development challenges with @gatesfoundation for more than 15 years," the Microsoft co-founder tweeted Wednesday.
Citing two sources, Reuters reported Gates is set to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday. The pair last met in 2015, and in 2020 Xi wrote Gates a letter thanking him and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for pledging some $5 million to the country in its fight against COVID-19, according to the outlet.
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While Gates is retired from leading Microsoft and appears to be overseas to focus on the work of the global charitable organization he founded with his ex-wife, China has been rolling out the red carpet for U.S. CEOs in recent months.
Fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk recently made a three-day visit to the communist nation, where the Tesla chief checked in on the electric vehicle giant's operations and met with China's foreign minister.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon also visited China earlier this month during a trip to Asia to meet with employees there and in neighboring democratic self-governing Taiwan.
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After closing the country for more than three years to curb the spread of COVID-19, China is trying to reconnect with the world. Within in weeks of China reopening its borders in March, Apple CEO Tim Cook made the trek overseas to attend the China Development Forum 2023, a government-organized annual business conference.
In the two months that followed, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger, Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan and Starbucks founder and chairman emeritus Howard Schultz all paid visits to China.
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The stream of trips to China by American business moguls comes amid strained relations between the two countries' governments over myriad issues, including an ongoing trade war and geopolitical tensions.
