Disney CEO meets Chinese president ahead of Shanghai theme park opening

The head of entertainment giant Disney had a rare official meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday, a month before the opening of its US$5.5 billion theme park in the country’s financial hub of Shanghai.

Xi told Disney CEO and Chairman Robert A. Iger that it was important for the world’s “strongest” country, referring to the US, and the world’s largest developing country to deepen their cooperation and expand it into new areas.

Cooperation between “US firms with Chinese firms, and in particular the Walt Disney Company with Chinese firms, are exactly cases in point of such new cooperation,” Xi said. “And I believe the new cooperation will continue to yield new outcomes.”

Chinese tourists leave their mark at attractions around Shanghai Disneyland

One such partnership for Disney seemingly ran into trouble recently when a service launched in December with e-commerce giant Alibaba was taken offline. DisneyLife allowed subscribers in China to access Disney-branded movies, games and e-books, and helped them to plan trips to Disney’s Hong Kong and upcoming Shanghai theme parks.

The service stoppage comes amid a broader crackdown on digital media in tandem with an increasingly restrictive political climate in China. In February, a new requirement stated that foreign companies and foreign-Chinese joint ventures must obtain approval before publishing content online.

Apple’s movies and e-books services also have been suspended in China, though the company said it is optimistic they will be back online.

Disney said it licenses content to Alibaba, and could not comment on DisneyLife’s suspension. Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post, said in a statement: “The service is undergoing an upgrade. We do not have an estimate on when the service will resume.”