Chinese CEOs arrive in Washington ahead of Xi's state visit

Chinese executives with US visas arrived in Washington ahead of President Xi Jinping's state visit, traveling separately from his official delegation; their attendance at the White House state dinner remained unconfirmed as of Wednesday. The executives did not fly with Xi's party, and sources said no new visas were sought for the summit. Their seating depended partly on talks between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Vice-Premier He Lifeng, who met Wednesday and extended the "Busan arrangement" on trade to January 10. Beijing sought the executives' presence to counterbalance American tech leaders like Elon Musk and Jensen Huang, though one source called it largely symbolic. Names discussed included Alibaba, Xiaomi, CATL and BYD, while AI executives reportedly skipped over security concerns.