Billionaire globalist Bill Gates on Friday met with Chinese Communist President Xi Jinping.
It’s Jinping’s first known meeting with a foreign entrepreneur in years.
“You are the first American friend I’ve met in Beijing this year,” Jinping told Gates.
Gates said he was honored to have this chance to meet with Jinping.
“We’ve always had great conversations, and we’ll have a lot of important topics to discuss today,” Gates said.
“It’s very exciting to be back,” he added.
WATCH:
NEW – China's Xi tells Bill Gates: "You are the first American friend I’ve met in Beijing this year."
Gates says he "is very excited to be back." pic.twitter.com/7SkXomVGJD
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) June 16, 2023
Gates revealed earlier this week that he’s visiting China for the first time since 2019.
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.
— Bill Gates (@BillGates) June 14, 2023
Gates’ meeting with Jinping follows his announcement of $50 million in funding to support a joint disease and medicine research organization in China.
The organization is called the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI).
“The success of this institute will play an important part in winning the fight against infectious diseases that disproportionately affect the poorest in developing countries,” a Bill Gates quote read on its website.
“China has made significant gains reducing poverty and improving health outcomes within China. I’m hopeful China can play an even bigger role in addressing the current challenges, particularly those facing African countries,” Gates said during a speech Thursday at the GHDDI in Beijing.
Jinping referred to Gates as "an old friend" during their meeting.
WATCH:
Mr Xi said he was happy to see Mr Gates, whom he called an "old friend,".
Chinese leader Xi Jinping said the United States and China can co-operate to 'benefit our two countries' in a meeting with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
Read more: https://t.co/DIBVHi62Gc pic.twitter.com/QTkn3054aj
— Sky News (@SkyNews) June 16, 2023
Reuters reports:
Chinese President Xi Jinping called Bill Gates "an old friend" and said he hoped they could cooperate in a way that would benefit both China and the United States, in Xi's first meeting with a foreign entrepreneur in years.
In a meeting at Beijing's Diaoyutai state guest house, where China's leaders have traditionally received senior foreign visitors, Xi said he was very happy to see the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist after three years, and that Gates was the first American friend he had met this year.
"I often say the foundation of U.S.-China relations lies with its people. I place my hopes on the American people," a video published by state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi as saying.
"With the current global situation, we can carry out various activities beneficial to our two countries and people, activities that benefit humanity as a whole," he said.
"I just had a meeting with President Xi, in which we discussed the importance of addressing global health and development challenges, like health inequity and climate change, and how China can play a role in achieving progress for people everywhere," Gates wrote in his personal blog.
The billionaire globalist wrote about his trip to China in GatesNotes:
China has eliminated diseases, including polio and malaria, within its borders, developed drugs like artemisinin that have saved millions of lives around the world from malaria, made great strides in poverty reduction, and has made significant investments in clean energy and climate adaptation. So I was looking forward to seeing what’s changed since my last visit four years ago.
ADVERTISEMENTOne highlight was my visit to the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute, an organization our foundation helped establish six years ago in partnership with the Beijing Municipal Government and Tsinghua University. GHDDI represents a productive way for public and private partners to work together on discovering new medicines for diseases that disproportionately impact the world’s most vulnerable populations but have applications for the world. I spoke about the institute’s work on TB and malaria yesterday, and we also extended our partnership over the next five years.
I also got to visit the National Crop Genebank of China. This facility is a prominent crop research center and also serves as a long-term preservation storage space for seeds so that scientists around the world have access to important genetic data. During my visit, I met with agricultural scientists who are working with their counterparts worldwide, particularly in Africa, on new rice varieties that help farmers increase their productivity and minimize the need for fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation.
The benefits of their work have reached millions of farming households across Asia and Africa. The continued investment in technology and innovation within the agricultural sector has played a significant role in the increase in agricultural productivity throughout China. What excites me even more is China’s commitment to share their expertise and innovative practices with low-income countries. By assisting farmers in adapting to climate change, increasing their income, and combating food crises, they are making a substantial contribution to global food security.
The genebank and GHDDI are just two examples of the promising work the foundation has seen in China in the more than 15 years we’ve been partnering here. And there will be more opportunities for China and others to step up later this year, including a summit on development financing in Paris, a meeting of the G20 in New Delhi, and the COP28 climate conference in Dubai.
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