China’s Xi hopes for U.S.-China friendship in talks with Gates

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft Corp., in Beijing on Friday and expressed his hope for continued friendship between people of China and the United States, state-run media said.

Xi’s message came as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is scheduled to visit China for talks with senior Chinese officials from Sunday, with Washington seeking to defuse bilateral tensions over Taiwan and other issues.

In the talks with the co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Xi said Gates is “the first American friend I have met in ...