QUOTE ...Facing an economic slowdown, soaring youth unemployment and an anemic investment climate, Chinese officials are keen to host Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to address U.S. technology restrictions on China and other economic matters. As part of this pro-business push, Xi met with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates on Friday — a meeting that followed visits to Beijing by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan and Tesla and Twitter CEO Elon Musk.

But rather than acquiesce to Chinese preferences that top U.S. economic advisers travel first, the White House insisted that Blinken, one of Biden’s closest confidantes, be the first to Beijing, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

As a result, Chinese officials view the Blinken visit as a necessary step to unlock follow-on meetings with more immediately desired officials who focus on economic matters, analysts said.

“The most that can be hoped for is the Blinken visit sets the stage for later visits by Secretaries Yellen and Raimondo,” said David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “China’s concerned about various trade and technology restrictions but [Blinken’s team] are not the right people to negotiate on those issues.” UNQUOTE