Silicon Valley sought to put a brave face on its fraying business relations with China on Wednesday, as some of the US tech industry’s top names gathered near Seattle for a lecture from Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Tim Cook of Apple, Satya Nadella of Microsoft, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebookand Ginni Rometty of IBMwere among the tech leaders summoned to a meeting with the president on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington.

When the invitations first went out, some of the attendees had hoped for an open discussion where they could put their views to the Chinese leader on issues ranging from cyber attacks to theft of their intellectual property by Chinese companies, both of which they claim are increasing. The final schedule they were presented with had time only for them to hear a brief address from the president, who arrived on his first state visit on Tuesday.