Xi Jinping meets with ‘old friend’ Bill Gates in Beijing

Chinese leader Xi Jinping told his “old friend” Bill Gates on Friday that China had always placed its hopes in the American people, after the Microsoft co-founder’s foundation pledged $50 million to help Chinese efforts to battle disease. Gates — one of the world’s richest men — is the latest in a string of Western business leaders to visit China since the country ended strict Covid controls that largely closed it off from the world for almost three years. The visit is Gates’ first to China in four years, and included a rare sit-down between the Chinese head of state…