SeattleTimes... HONG KONG — As President Xi Jinping of China prepares for his first state visit to the United States this month, Washington has warned it could hit Chinese companies with sanctions over digital attacks for trade secrets. Beijing is now pushing back in an unorthodox way: by organizing a technology forum in Seattle to demonstrate its own sway over the American tech industry.
The Sept. 23 meeting is planned to feature China’s Internet czar, Lu Wei, the overseer of China’s restrictions on foreign technology companies.
A number of Chinese tech executives, including Robin Li of Baidu and Jack Ma of Alibaba, along with executives from top U.S. tech companies including Apple, Facebook, IBM, Google and Uber, have been invited, according to people familiar with the plan who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the meeting.
Some invitees, including Apple CEO Timothy D. Cook, plan to attend, according to one person. The forum is being co-hosted by Microsoft, said another person with knowledge of the matter.