Xiplomacy: Xi Jinping and his American friends

CATALYST FOR COOPERATION

During a visit to the United States in 2015, Xi shared his stories of Liangjiahe with the audience at a grand dinner held in the city of Seattle. His narrative helped the audience better understand the essence of the Chinese Dream.

Liangjiahe is a village in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, where Xi had lived and worked for about seven years as an "educated youth" starting in 1969.

"I still recall the uplifting words you shared that day, about your early years in Liangjiahe, how the village had changed for the better when you returned, and that the progress in Liangjiahe was a microcosm of the progress China has made through reform and opening-up in the last four decades," Howard Schultz, honorary chairman of Starbucks, recalled in a letter written to Xi in 2020. "The yearning for a better life that is part of the Chinese Dream reminds me of the American Dream."

The businessman was pleased to receive Xi's reply. In his reply, Xi expressed his hope that the coffee company would continue to play a positive role in advancing China-US economic and trade cooperation and bilateral ties.

Over the years, Starbucks has kept expanding its business in China. In September 2022, Starbucks announced it would have 9,000 stores on the Chinese mainland by 2025 and provide 35,000 new jobs. Its store count on the Chinese mainland reached 6,090 in the first quarter of the 2023 fiscal year.

In many other fields, Xi's personal connections with his American friends have also served as a catalyst for bilateral collaboration.

When meeting Bill Gates on June 16, Xi warmly shook hands with him and said that "You're the first American friend I've met in Beijing this year."

Highlighting "the foundation of China-US relations lies in the people," Xi said that "we have always placed our hope on the American people and wish all the best for the friendship between the two peoples."

Their friendship has bolstered the development of cooperation between the two sides, as evidenced by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's cooperation with China, which has made remarkable progress in various domains, especially in the fight against infectious diseases.

During his stay, Gates announced the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's renewed collaboration with the Beijing Municipal Government and Tsinghua University on innovative therapies for infectious diseases prevalent in low- and middle-income countries, pledging a donation of 50 million US dollars for the joint endeavor.

The friendship between Xi and Gates, linking hearts and minds across the Pacific, is just a microcosm of the broader scope of exchanges between China and the United States, promoting stability amidst the turbulent China-US relationship.