File photo shows a view of the Lujiazui area in Shanghai, east China. (Xinhua)

Chinese President Xi Jinping has sought to reassure global business leaders about China's commitment to open up its markets and create a better business environment for foreign investors, as US officials have been stirring up tensions with China on trade and other fronts.

In a letter replying to representatives of Global CEO Council members, Xi pledged that China will keep deepening reform and expanding opening-up, and provide a better business environment for the investment and development of Chinese and foreign enterprises, according to the Xinhua News Agency on Thursday.

The Chinese president also stressed that "China will be unswervingly committed to pursuing the path of peaceful development, making economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all, and promoting the building of an open world economy."

Coming at a delicate time in China-US relations, the president's letter sends clear signals to global businesses and the broader international community that China is sticking to its long-term opening-up and reform policies and supporting economic globalization, regardless of challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic and rising protectionism in some countries, said Gao Lingyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.

"If you read between the lines, the letter also contained a message that some in the US are creating obstacles for China-US cooperation and for global cooperation but such efforts are doomed to fail," Gao told the Global Times on Thursday. 

US officials have been constantly escalating tensions with China on a wide range of issues from trade to the COVID-19 pandemic and from Hong Kong to Xinjiang and the South China Sea. 

In the latest and potentially one of the most aggressive moves yet, US officials are reportedly considering visa restrictions on all members of the Communist Party of China.

Gao said that the Chinese president's letter also contained a call for the US to resolve issues through dialogue and consultation rather than sanctions. 

In the letter, Xi expressed his hope that those CEOs will adhere to the principles of win-win cooperation and common development, strengthen exchanges and cooperation with Chinese companies, and contribute to the world economic recovery, according to Xinhua.

Global Times