Xi asks Starbucks’s Schultz to help promote Us-china ties

President Xi Jinping called on Starbucks to help improve China-us ties, striking a business-friendly tone as the Biden administration prepares to take over in Washington.

“I hope Starbucks will make active efforts to promote China-us economic and trade cooperation and the development of bilateral relations,” Xi said in reply to a letter from Chairman Emeritus Howard Schultz. Xi’s letter was dated Jan. 6 and published Thursday by the official Xinhua News Agency.

“China has embarked on a new journey of comprehensively building a modern socialist country, which will provide a broader space for companies from all over the world, including Starbucks and other American companies, to develop in China,” Xi wrote.

Chinese leaders have often tried to utilise ties with US business leaders to improve US- China relations, and have repeatedly stressed the role of commerce as a stabiliser in bilateral ties.

Relations between the two countries have worsened over the four years of the Trump presidency, a major challenge for Presidentelect Joe Biden.

China ends 2020 with record trade surplus

China’s export boom continued into December, pushing the trade surplus to a record high in the month and bolstering what is already the world’s bestperforming major economy.

Fueling the shipments surge is insatiable global appetite for work-from-home technology and health care equipment as Covid-19 continues to surge in many places around the world.