Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping said in a letter to Howard Schultz, the former CEO of coffee giant Starbucks, that he hopes he will contribute to warming relations between Beijing and Washington. 67-year-old Democrat Howard Schultz had planned to run against Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping encouraged Howard Schultz, the former CEO (and now majority shareholder) of Starbucks, to help improve relations between Beijing and Washington, AFP reported Jan. 14, citing an official Chinese media outlet. Xi made the remarks in response to a letter from the U.S. owner.
It is not yet known what the letter from the largest Starbucks shareholder to Xi said. Coffee giant Starbucks currently has more than 4,700 points of sale and 58,000 employees in China.
Howard Schultz, 67, is a Democrat who at one point considered running as an independent in the 2020 U.S. presidential election against real estate mogul Donald Trump, AFP reported.
During his administration, U.S. Republican billionaire Donald Trump launched a trade war against Beijing. The relationship between Beijing and Washington then hit rock bottom.
In a letter to Howard Schultz, Xi said he hopes Starbucks will work to promote U.S.-China economic and trade cooperation and develop bilateral ties, Xinhua reported. Xi promised that “China will provide global companies, including Starbucks and other U.S. companies, with more room for growth in China.”
Xi’s call comes two weeks after China and the European Union (EU) reached an agreement in principle on reciprocal investment protection. And the China-EU investment agreement is an event that could worry the U.S. business community.
Howard Schultz left Starbucks in June 2018. Before that, he expanded what was then 11 stores to 28,000 worldwide after entering Starbucks in 1982.
He met Xi Jinping at a reception in Seattle (Northwest) during his state visit to the United States in 2015, when guests toasted with Starbucks coffee.
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