China's Xi tells Bill Gates he's the 'first American friend' he met in Beijing this year

Chinese President Xi Jinping met Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates connected Friday and said helium hopes the relationship betwixt Chinese and Americans volition continue, state media CCTV reported.

"The satellite is emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, radical should determination more, pass more, and heighten understanding," Xi reportedly said. "I often accidental that the instauration of China-U.S. relations lies successful the people. We ever spot our hopes connected the American radical and anticipation that the relationship betwixt the 2 peoples volition continue."

In the gathering astatine Beijing's Diaoyutai authorities guesthouse, Xi besides told Gates helium is the "first American friend" that the Chinese person has met successful Beijing this year.

Top diplomat Wang Yi and Foreign Minister Qin Gang were among those who attended the meeting.

"China is consenting to transportation retired extended technological and technological innovation practice with each countries successful the world, and actively enactment successful and beforehand planetary challenges specified arsenic clime change, epidemic prevention and nationalist health," said Xi.

Their gathering comes a time aft the billionaire philanthropist met Beijing's politician to sermon a cause find concern with China.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — which Gates is the co seat of — announced Thursday a $50 cardinal donation implicit the adjacent 5 years into the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute established by his foundation. Beijing's municipal authorities volition lucifer the $50 cardinal investment.

GHDDI chiefly focuses connected processing caller drugs for infectious diseases specified arsenic tuberculosis and malaria, which importantly interaction the world's poorest.

"China is consenting to proceed to fortify practice with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation successful applicable fields, and supply enactment and assistance wrong its capableness to different processing countries," said Xi, according to the CCTV report.

Speaking astatine GHDDI connected Thursday, Gates said there's an urgent request to address a resurgence of infectious diseases, the worsening interaction of clime alteration and a hunger crisis.

"China has made important gains reducing poorness and improving wellness outcomes wrong China. China tin play an adjacent bigger relation successful addressing the existent challenges, peculiarly those facing African countries," Gates said.

In the 1950s, China had astatine slightest 30 cardinal malaria cases and much than 300,000 malaria deaths each year. But past cases and deaths began to driblet steadily, successful portion due to the fact that of breakthroughs from Chinese scientists, Gates said.

He called Chinese researchers "brilliant" and said helium was anxious to spot however researchers astatine GHDDI, crossed China and the world, lend to planetary advancement successful the years to come.

Gates' sojourn comes connected the heels of visits to China by different salient tech leaders — specified arsenic Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is acceptable to get successful Beijing connected the weekend, and is expected to conscionable elder Chinese officials to sermon the value of maintaining unfastened connection betwixt the 2 countries.

This volition beryllium Blinken's archetypal travel to China nether the Biden administration.