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JPMorgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon has summoned Henry Kissinger and a group of U.S. and Chinese business leaders for a summit in Shanghai as global businesses try to overcome the worst Sino-U.S. tensions in years.
Next week’s event, part of Dimon’s first visit to mainland China in four years, highlights attempts by U.S. companies to keep their plans on track in the world’s second-largest economy.
The CEOs of American giants Starbucks and Pfizer, as well as Chinese companies Baidu and Geely, are among those expected in person. Kissinger, the century-old statesman and architect of Sino-American rapprochement in the 1970s, is expected to address the meeting via video link.
The event follows a Chinese crackdown on consulting firms this has shaken Western companies that rely on their advice, and Beijing’s ban on key infrastructure operators to buy products from American chipmaker Micron Technology. The United States has made it more difficult for China’s technology sector to access cutting-edge components and machinery..
This will be Dimon’s first time visiting mainland China since he apologized in 2021 for telling U.S. business leaders that his bank would survive the Chinese Communist Party.
“The timing coincides well with the softening of the rhetoric between the United States and China, with Biden calling for a thaw,” said Han Lin, a professor at NYU Shanghai. But he added: “We’ve seen this story before, where things get better and then worse, and it’s the uncertainty that keeps multinational companies on edge.”
JPMorgan’s own executives have highlighted strained relations between Beijing and Washington. The tension between China and the United States is “something we have to learn to live with because it cannot be resolved, but we hope that through dialogue this tension will become constructive,” the official said this month. director of operations Daniel Pinto to investors.
No Chinese government figures are expected to speak at the conference, which has been addressed in previous years by a representative of the Ministry of Finance and an adviser to the State Council or cabinet.
Kissinger, who turns 100 on May 27, and Condoleezza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State, will virtually join a session titled “A Dialogue on Diplomacy” chaired by Mary Erdoes, head of asset management at the bank. Other sessions include discussions on decarbonization, healthcare and supply chain resilience.
Laxman Narasimhan will be there as part of his first trip to Starbucks’ second-largest market since succeeding Howard Schultz as CEO of the coffee chain in March. Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla will join us on his second visit to China in two months. Bourla told the FT earlier this month that he still saw a “very big” opportunity for Pfizer in the country.
Robin Li, founder of Chinese internet company Baidu, and Daniel Li, who heads Chinese automaker Geely, are expected to speak at the event.
So are Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest, Stella Li, executive vice president of Chinese electric car maker BYD, and Ming Mei, chief executive of Singapore-based warehouse operator GLP.
JPMorgan declined to comment.
This gathering comes at a time when trade ties between the two superpowers are fraying and doubts are growing. on the strength of China’s post-pandemic rebound. However, many global companies still look to the Chinese economy to drive growth.
Raids on the Chinese offices of several consulting firms have made US companies more cautious about doing business in the country, with the US Chamber of Commerce warning last month that a new counterespionage law “significantly increases uncertainties and risks associated with doing business in the People’s Republic. “.
Washington and Beijing are trying to stabilize their trade relations. China’s commerce minister and his U.S. counterpart expressed concerns about their countries’ trade and investment policies at a meeting in Washington this week, but pledged to keep communication channels open. It was the first visit by a senior Chinese official to the US capital since 2020.
A Conference Board survey released this week showed growing confidence in China’s prospects among executives of multinational companies with operations in the country. But 88 percent of them warned that geopolitical tensions were negatively affecting their businesses and that U.S.-based CEOs remained more pessimistic than their European peers.
U.S.-based multinationals reported mixed results for their China operations during the latest earnings season.
It is the first time since 2019 that JPMorgan’s China summit has been held in person and more than 2,600 people are expected to attend the event, whose sessions are closed to the media.
Additional reporting by Joe Leahy in Beijing and Jamie Smyth in New York
