Bill Gates Meets President Xi Jinping on China Visit

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Bill Gates, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Bill Gates, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)
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Bill Gates Meets President Xi Jinping on China Visit

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Bill Gates, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Bill Gates, left, meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Friday, June 16, 2023. (Yin Bogu/Xinhua via AP)

Microsoft’s co-founder Bill Gates has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping just days after a visit to Beijing by Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
According to The Associated Press, the state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi saying he was happy to see Gates, who he called an “old friend,” after three years without meeting during the pandemic.
“I believe that the foundation of Sino-US relations lies in the people,” Xi said to Gates. “Under the current world situation, we can carry out various activities that benefit our two countries, the people of our countries, and the entire human race.”
Gates told Xi he was “very honored” to meet with Xi.
The visits by leading foreign business people have coincided with efforts by the ruling Communist Party to revive investor interest in China’s slowing economy. Apple CEO Tim Cook visited China in March.
Tensions between the US and China have festered in recent years, but recently the two sides have held talks on trade and other issues. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to arrive in China on Sunday for a two-day visit.
He will be the first secretary of state to visit China since 2018 and is expected to meet with Foreign Minister Qin Gang and possibly with Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to U.S. officials.
On Thursday, the Gates Foundation pledged $50 million to bolster the Global Health Drug Discovery Institute’s capacity to develop drugs to fight diseases like malaria and tuberculosis. The institute was jointly founded by the Gates Foundation, Tsinghua University and the Beijing municipal government.



Russia and Ukraine to Hold First Peace Talks in Seven Weeks 

A security personnel stands guard in front of the Ciragan Palace before the third meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations for peace talks in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
A security personnel stands guard in front of the Ciragan Palace before the third meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations for peace talks in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
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Russia and Ukraine to Hold First Peace Talks in Seven Weeks 

A security personnel stands guard in front of the Ciragan Palace before the third meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations for peace talks in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 July 2025. (EPA)
A security personnel stands guard in front of the Ciragan Palace before the third meeting between Russian and Ukrainian delegations for peace talks in Istanbul, Türkiye, 23 July 2025. (EPA)

Russian negotiators flew to Türkiye to hold peace talks with Ukraine on Wednesday, the Kremlin said, before what will be the first direct discussions between the warring sides in more than seven weeks. 

Russia played down expectations of any breakthrough at the meeting, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said this week should focus in part on preparing a summit between himself and President Vladimir Putin. 

"Naturally, no one expects an easy road. Naturally, this will be a very difficult conversation. The projects (of the two sides) are diametrically opposed," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. 

Previous talks in Istanbul on May 16 and June 2 led to the exchange of thousands of prisoners of war and the remains of dead soldiers. But those meetings lasted less than three hours in total and made no breakthrough towards a ceasefire or a settlement to end almost three and a half years of war. 

US President Donald Trump last week threatened heavy new sanctions on Russia and countries that buy its exports unless a peace deal was reached within 50 days. 

But three sources close to the Kremlin told Reuters that Putin, unfazed by Trump's ultimatum, would keep on fighting in Ukraine until the West engaged on his terms for peace, and that his territorial demands may widen as Russian forces advance. 

On Wednesday, Russia said its forces had captured the settlement of Varachyne in Ukraine's Sumy region, where Putin has ordered his troops to create a buffer zone after Ukraine mounted a shock incursion into Russia last year and held onto a chunk of its territory for months. Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield report. 

In recent weeks, Russian forces have launched some of their heaviest air attacks of the war, focusing especially on the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. 

Ukraine has hit back with attacks of its own, and last month inflicted serious damage on Russia's nuclear-capable strategic bomber fleet by smuggling drones close to air bases deep inside the country. 

CONFLICTING DEMANDS 

Zelenskiy said earlier this week that the agenda for talks was clear: the return of prisoners of war and of children abducted by Russia, and the preparation of a meeting between himself and Putin. 

Putin turned down a previous challenge from Zelenskiy to meet him in person and has said he does not see him as a legitimate leader because Ukraine, which is under martial law, did not hold new elections when Zelenskiy's five-year mandate expired last year. Russia also denies abducting children. 

The Kremlin said this week it was unrealistic to expect "miracles" from the talks. 

At the last meeting on June 2, Russia handed Ukraine a memorandum setting out its key demands, including: full withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from four regions of the country that Russia has claimed as its own; limits on the size of Ukraine's military; enhanced rights for Russian-speakers in Ukraine; and acceptance by Kyiv of neutral status, outside NATO or any other alliance. 

Ukraine sees those terms as tantamount to surrender, and Zelenskiy described the Russian stance as an ultimatum. 

Ukraine wants an immediate ceasefire, reparations, international security guarantees and no restrictions on its military strength.