China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao met with top executives from South Korea, France and the US ahead of a high-profile business forum in Beijing, in an attempt to boost slowing investment from overseas amid geopolitical tensions.

Wang met Saturday with Kwak Noh-jung, chief executive officer of South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, to discuss cooperation on semiconductors, according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce. China is trying to counter US restrictions on its access to technology. Wang said he hopes SK Hynix will continue to expand investment in his country.

In a meeting the same day with Jean Lemierre, chairman of French lender BNP Paribas SA, Wang said China is willing to resolve trade disputes with Europe and urged the bank to play a positive role in the dialogue, according to a separate statement. Lemierre said the bank is willing to facilitate such conversations.

Wang also spoke earlier this week with Apple Inc’s Tim Cook, who said his company would invest further in applied research in China.

Wang has been taking the opportunity ahead of the China Development Forum, which starts Sunday, to meet with leaders of key companies. The annual event, begun in 2000, has been one of the few venues where foreign business leaders could interact with China’s state leaders. Premier Li Qiang will deliver a keynote speech this year, though speculation remains over which Chinese officials global executives will meet.

SK Hynix’s Kwak said his company will keep pushing for greater development in China, which is one of its most important production bases and markets, according to the Commerce Ministry statement.

SK Hynix is the world’s No 2 memory chip maker after Samsung Electronics Co, which is also from South Korea. US-China tensions, which include American restrictions on access to certain key products, mean the companies need to strike a delicate balance between the two countries to maintain production and sales.

The US last year gave SK Hynix and Samsung indefinite waivers to keep bringing some high-end equipment into China. Apple gets almost 20% of its revenue from China and is SK Hynix’s largest customer, according to Bloomberg supply chain analysis.

Trade tensions heated up in recent months as Europe launched an investigation into Chinese electric vehicle imports over state subsidies, and moved closer to imposing additional tariffs. China subsequently launched its own anti-dumping investigation into brandy imported from the European Union (EU), a move seen as a retaliation against France, which supported the electric-vehicle probe.

French President Emmanuel Macron plans to host Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Paris in the spring. The EU is considering a formal review of how widely its businesses use mature or lower-end chips from China, joining the US in flagging a potential risk to national security and global supply chains.

  - Bloomberg