China's Xi Jinping Meets With US Business Leaders

China's nationalist leader, Xi Jinping, called for closer trade ties with the United States during a meeting on Wednesday with top American business leaders. Whether China and the United States have a cooperative or confrontational relationship bears on the well-being of the Chinese and American peoples and the future of humanity. Xi stressed that China had "One of the highest growth rates among the major economies" and contributed around 30 percent of world economic growth in 2023. Following the meeting, the U.S.-China Business Council said in a statement that it was honored to have a dialogue with China's top leader to "Discuss our concerns over the decline in trade, investment, and business confidence, as well as our desire to help improve engagement and commercial exchange between our two countries." China's formerly highly abrasive tone toward the United States has softened in recent months, particularly since Xi and U.S. President Joe Biden met in San Francisco in November. Officials such as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken have visited China, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is reportedly due to travel there again to meet top leaders next month. Xi's administration has maintained a hard line on issues it considers its "Core interests." Those include its claims to virtually the entire South China Sea, the self-governing island democracy of Taiwan - a close American ally - and its heavy-handed rule of outlying regions such as Hong Kong, Tibet and Xinjiang.