Notable Absence: Why Didn't Xi Bring CEOs of Major Chinese Companies to Washington?

- When U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held their prominent meeting in Beijing in May, Trump brought with him a delegation of top executives from American technology companies, including Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and Tim Cook, who was then the CEO of Apple. However, when Xi visited the United States this week, he did not bring any Chinese CEOs with him.

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Xi intended to bring a large delegation of businesspeople with him. The South China Morning Post also reported that executives from the Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD, smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, and battery industry leader CATL were among those expected to join his accompanying delegation.

However, Chinese CEOs were notably absent from the dinner held at the White House on Thursday evening. Cui Hongjian, a researcher in international relations at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Afaq News Network that Beijing may have felt it was not the right time to showcase a prominent presence of Chinese CEOs.

Cui said, "Currently, both sides are still in a phase where they want to achieve greater stability in the political situation." He added, "Once both sides actually achieve substantial breakthroughs in their economic and trade negotiations, I believe it will then be more appropriate to see prominent displays of cooperation at the CEO level or in the economic and trade fields."

Wu Shimbo, an advisor to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the Afaq News Network that logistical challenges also hindered plans to send the delegation. He also pointed out concerns in Beijing that some members of Trump's team did not view U.S.-China relations as positively as the U.S. president does.

He said, "That was a major reason for the Chinese side not sending that economic and trade delegation."