Chinese President Xi's 'siren call' to US business hits great wall of skepticism

"No matter how the international situation evolves," Xi said Thursday, "China's resolve to foster a market-oriented, law-based and world class business environment will not change." "That's a siren call to the business community to re-enter a period of closer economic partnership," said Rupert Hammond-Chambers, president of the U.S.-Taiwan Business Council whose members include firms that do business in both Taiwan and China. "Xi is trying hard to create a welcoming business environment for American businesses but there are now fears about their personal physical security doing business in China," said Ben Zhang, the chief executive of the Seattle-based firm Greater Pacific which has done import-export business with China for almost three decades. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce warned in a statement in April that China's newly revised counter-espionage law "Dramatically increases the uncertainties of doing business in the People's Republic." And the State Department advises all U.S. citizens to avoid traveling to China due to "Arbitrary enforcement of local laws and the risk of wrongful detentions." Those factors prompted Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to declare in August that China was increasingly "Uninvestable" for U.S. businesses. U.S. firms particularly fear Beijing may force them to hand over intellectual property as a condition of operating in China, and about the Chinese government "Tilting the playing field" by subsidizing domestic firms over foreign competitors, Colvin said. The Chinese officials urged U.S. businesses to reinvest in China as it emerged from its strict coronavirus restrictions and offered to remove tariffs on U.S. goods if Washington did the same for China's. A meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit was a perfect fit for the delicate diplomatic situation - allowing Xi to appeal to American business without granting him the pomp of a state dinner in Washington, which Republicans would have surely used to paint Biden as soft on China.