Lujiazui, a financial zone in Shanghai Photo: VCG

Recent high-profile trips to China by US executives such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk and JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon have made headlines around the world, while heads of companies from other countries have also been visiting China, seeking to expand their business in the world's second-largest economy.

Executives from a couple of top UK companies have met with senior Chinese officials, even as some Western officials, including those in the UK, are calling for "decoupling" or "de-risking" in their trade ties with China.

On Thursday, Chinese Vice President Han Zheng met with Ben Keswick, executive chairman of Jardine Matheson Holdings, in Beijing, according to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Noting that the trend of economic globalization will not change, Han said China is committed to the basic state policy of reform and opening-up, and its large market will bring stability and certainty for global economic recovery.

Han told Keswick that China supports multinational companies including Jardine Matheson to achieve better development in China and jointly maintain the stability and smoothness of global industrial and supply chains.

Keswick thanked China for its strong support of the company's development in the country and expressed optimism about the prospects for the Chinese market and the desire for long-term development in China to achieve win-win results, according to Xinhua.

Prior to the meeting on Thursday, Keswick also visited Shanghai. Chen Jining, the secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China met him on Tuesday, and said that Shanghai will steadfastly expand its opening-up, create a first-class business environment that is market-oriented and internationalized, strengthen communication and connection, and provide convenient services for multinationals, according to local Shanghai news site Shine.

Meanwhile, Rene Haas, CEO of leading semiconductor firm ARM, has also been touring China. On Tuesday, he met Zhang Guangjun, China's vice minister of science and technology. Zhang said that the Chinese government always upholds an open, inclusive and win-win attitude in international technology cooperation. As a leading global provider of intellectual property rights for semiconductor design, ARM has great potential for development in the Chinese market.

Haas introduced the current business development and future development plans of the firm. He said that he felt very welcome when visiting China for the first time in four years and emphasized the importance of the Chinese market to ARM.

ARM is of particular significance given the US' attempt to ban normal sales of chips and chip-making equipment to Chinese firms. Such a visit underscores foreign chip companies' great interest in the Chinese market, despite geopolitical tensions, analysts noted.

Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia Corp, another chip giant, is also planning to visit China to meet with tech executives, according to Bloomberg. Huang has been speaking out against the US' chip war against China, saying such a war could cause "enormous damage" to the US tech industry, according to the Financial Times.

Global Times