Bill Gates To Meet Xi Jinping In Beijing Today

After committing $50 million through his foundation to support Chinese efforts to fight sickness, Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates will meet President Xi Jinping on Friday.

A rare meeting between the Chinese head of state and a foreign business executive will take place during the visit, according to Chinese state media on Friday.

The leader of the Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, will meet with President Xi Jinping in Beijing on June 16, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The meeting takes place before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's anticipated trip to China on Sunday.

It also comes after the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation said on Thursday that it will provide $50 million to aid Chinese efforts to combat tuberculosis and malaria.

The Global Health Drug Discovery Institute (GHDDI), a Beijing-based organization founded by Gates, the Beijing municipal government, and Tsinghua University, was the subject of the foundation's announcement that it will continue its partnership.

According to a statement from the Gates Foundation, the $50 million would go towards "efforts to improve health outcomes worldwide through lifesaving therapies for infectious diseases like tuberculosis and malaria, which disproportionately affect the world's poorest."

The Gates Foundation reported that on Thursday, Gates spoke at GHDDI and praised China's initiatives to fight malaria and alleviate poverty.

According to Gates, "China has made significant progress in reducing poverty and enhancing health outcomes within China."

"I'm optimistic that China can play a bigger part in addressing the current issues, particularly those that African countries are facing."

Gates last travelled to China in 2019, where he had a meeting with Peng Liyuan, the first lady, to discuss the HIV/AIDS prevention efforts of his foundation.

In an effort to call attention to the lack of toilets in the poor world, he waved a jar of human faeces during a symposium in Beijing the year before while on a visit there.