Xi Jinping holds noteworthy meeting with foreign CEOs

On Friday, Xi Jinping met with over 40 foreign business executives in Beijing – one of the largest gatherings of foreign business leaders Xi has ever hosted.

Some context: Foreign business leaders are in town for the China Development Forum (CDF), which wrapped up on Monday.

• Last year, after the CDF, Xi met with a smaller group of US business leaders and academics.

Executives from a bunch of industries were invited to make remarks at Friday's meeting, including:

• Raj Subramaniam, President and CEO of FedEx
• Ola Källenius, Chairman of Mercedes-Benz
• Paul Hudson, CEO of Sanofi
• Georges Elhedery, Group Chief Executive of HSBC
• Toshiaki Higashihara, Chairman of Hitachi
• Kwak Noh-Jung, President of SK Hynix
• Amin Nasser, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco

Xi also brought his A-team to the meeting, including:

• Cai Qi, the fifth-ranking Party official and Xi’s chief of staff
• Vice Premier He Lifeng, who oversees foreign investment
• Top diplomat Wang Yi

Get smart: By calling in the big guns – i.e. Xi himself plus other top officials – Xi has signaled that MNCs are still highly valued in China's economy.

Get smarter: Cai Qi’s presence at the meeting was especially notable.

• He rarely meets with foreign executives.
• As vice director of the National Security Commission, he has an outsized influence over national security policies – many of which have created challenges for foreign firms.