BEIJING, February 13 (TMTPOST)— More business leaders in the west are said to plan their first visit to China since the Covid-19 pandemic started, highlighting their bullish outlook fuelled by country’s reopening from the Covid restrictions. 

Source: Visual China

Top executives including Tim Cook, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Apple Inc., and Pfizer Inc. CEO Albert Bourla are considering visit to the China Development Forum, a global business event in Beijing next month, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. Dozens of executives are expected to attend business meetings scheduled in the coming months in China, according to the report.

Apple and Pfizer didn’t comment on the news, while a spokesperson at Mercedes-Benz Group AG said its chairman Ola Källenius plans to attend the abovementioned forum in China, suggesting the CEO of Mercedes-Benz to be the next leader of German auto giant returns to China.

Prior to their possible trips, Volkswagen AG’s CEO and Chairman Oliver Blume has just completed his week-long visit in China starting from late January. The 54-year-old senior executive said China and Germany have strong foundations for cooperation and as a close friend to China, he has come to the country roughly four times a year since late 1990s. He arrived in four Chinese cities including Shanghai, Beijing, Hefei and Changchun, home to Volkswagen's major production bases and cooperative partners, in his visit. The trip “is a very strong signal to our partners in the region. It makes clear how important the Chinese market is for us,” said Ralf Brandstätter, head of Volkswagen’s China operations.

This is Blume’s second trip to China in around three months. He is one of business representatives who joined in German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s one-day trip in last November, which made Scholz the first European leader as well as the first leader of the Group of Seven (G7) to travel to China since the pandemic.

The executives’ weighing visit came as uncertainty of the China and U.S. relations remained high. Earlier this month, the United States postponed Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s planned trip to China after a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon drifting over the U.S. was shot down. Last Wednesday, the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that she still hopes to travel to China despite the recent diplomatic spat over the balloon, without disclosing a timetable. Blinken was mulling his face-to-face talks with China’s top diplomatic official Wang Yi following the balloon drama at Munich Security Conference this week, according to Reuters’ sources on Monday.

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