Hot on the heels of Elon Musk’s go to to China earlier this month, the nation welcomed one other American tech billionaire. Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, met President Xi Jinping on Friday in Beijing, China’s state media reported.
Like Musk, that is Gates’ first journey to China for the reason that COVID-19 pandemic, which disrupted his frequent visits to the nation the place Microsoft has had a presence for twenty years.
The purpose of the assembly hasn’t been introduced publicly, however official media reviews will possible observe. A reporter from China’s English state tabloid Global Times tweeted what gave the impression to be quotes from the assembly, giving us an early glimpse into the temper of the dialog.
Gates beforehand mentioned he’d be assembly companions engaged on n international well being and growth challenges. These are the few remaining areas the place China and the West discover frequent floor amid rising geopolitical tensions.
“You are the first American friend I’ve met in Beijing this year,” President Xi informed Gates on Friday. “As the world is emerging from covid, people should move around more, communicate more, and enhance their understanding of each other.”
President Xi additionally informed Gates that China is prepared to interact in “extensive technological innovation cooperation with countries around the world” and “actively participate in and promote the response to global challenges” reminiscent of local weather change and public well being,” in keeping with the reporter.
Gates is visiting China at a curious time. Last week, the Financial Times reported that Beijing-based Microsoft Research Asia (MSRA), the tech big’s largest R&D outfit exterior the U.S., is transferring a few of its high AI skills from China to Vancouver to mitigate the impression of the more and more strained relationship between China and the U.S.
The Biden Administration is weighing restrictions on investments from the U.S. into Chinese cutting-edge applied sciences together with AI, semiconductors and quantum computing.
MSRA, which began in 1998, has performed a pivotal function in coaching China’s AI expertise, a lot of whom have gone on to discovered their very own ventures. That consists of autonomous driving upstart Momenta, which has attracted funding from Bosch, General Motors and Toyota.
It gained’t be a shock if Gates is eschewing the sensitive subject of the U.S.-China tech conflict and focuses on philanthropic endeavors on the journey.
A day earlier than assembly President Xi, he introduced a renewed collaboration with the Beijing Municipal Government and Tsinghua University on revolutionary therapies for infectious ailments in low- and middle-income international locations. As a part of the partnership, the Gates Foundation pledged a donation of $50 million to the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute, a nonprofit establishment established in 2016 as “China’s first public-private partnership on innovative research between the Beijing Municipal Government, Tsinghua University, and the Gates Foundation,” in keeping with the institute’s web site.
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