BEIJING (AP) – The head of entertainment giant Disney has had a rare official meeting with China’s president, one month before the opening of a multibillion-dollar theme park in the country’s financial hub of Shanghai.
Xi Jinping told Disney chairman Robert A. Iger on Thursday that China and the U.S. should deepen their cooperation and expand it into new areas. It is unusual for China’s president to meet publicly with private business leaders at the Great Hall of the People, the ceremonial seat of China’s legislature.
Xi congratulated Iger on next month’s planned opening of the $5.5 billion Shanghai Disney Resort, the company’s first theme park in mainland China.
The park is a prestige project for China, reflecting the government’s push to stimulate growth by boosting consumption and services.