As Apple and Facebook Chiefs Visit, Xi Jinping Vows Deeper Reform

Just days after being likened to a king by President Donald Trump, President Xi Jinping of China reiterated his commitment to reform while holding court before a group of wealthy and influential business leaders from his country and the United States. President Xi, speaking at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing during an event shown on national television, addressed topics such as globalization, innovation and China’s relationship with the United States at a gathering of executives who included Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple; Stephen Schwarzman, the chief executive of the Blackstone Group; and Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive. The reception was one of Xi’s first public appearances with foreign visitors since a key Chinese Communist Party congress elevated him to the same exalted status as Mao Zedong, the country’s founding father, and Deng Xiaoping, who led the country from 1978 until 1989. The event — just a week before President Trump is scheduled to make his first visit to China — was most likely arranged to signal China’s status as an economic superpower and peer of the United States.