‘Fast Track’ for U.S. Business Execs on China’s Radar

China plans to upgrade its “fast track lane” to enable U.S. business executives to travel to the country, Chinese President Xi Jinping reportedly told U.S. President Joe Biden in the leaders’ virtual summit this week.

The matter came up among the numerous topics in the 3.5-hour video call between Xi and Biden, according to multiple U.S. media reports on the summit that cited Chinese officials’ reporting of the call. The two leaders covered a “broad range of topics,” including an extended discussion of policy in Taiwan, and trade and business was a smaller part of the discussion, according to a transcript of a press briefing on the call as published by the White House. The issue of visas did not come up at all in the discussion, a senior administration official said in the transcript.

Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, China’s borders have remained largely closed to foreign visitors, but the country has enacted Fast Lane agreements to allow in business travelers from certain countries, including Singapore and South Korea.

Biden’s meeting with Xi came the same day that he signed a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill into law, the United States’ largest investment in public works since the introduction of the Interstate Highway System in 1956. The bill includes $25 billion invested in airports, $66 billion in investment to Amtrak and $110 billion for roads and bridges.