For a billionaire, making money or spending money, which is more difficult? Last week, Bill Gates was confronted with the question during a media interview on his visit to Beijing.

Between November 20 and 21, Bill Gates paid a visit to Beijing. Since 2017, the billionaire has visited China for three consecutive years. He sat down with famed CCTV reporter Bai Yansong. Facing the richest man in the world, Bai raised the question: which is more difficult for you, making money or spending money?

A bit surprised by the question, Bill Gates said charity is more about spending money, and it is difficult to make charity effective. According to him, the function of charity is to solve some of the issues that cannot be solved by the market economy. Charity can work without profit margins and when no company has the motivation to solve the issues. For example, in order to eliminate malaria, charity can encourage scientists to dedicate more time in this field to make up for what the market economy fails to realize.

During the interview, Bill Gates also talked about US-China relations. As he said, the relationship between China and the US is "the most important" bilateral relationship in the world. It is his hope that China and the US will set common goals to meet global challenges. If the two countries spend their resources on fighting with each other, the progress on such global issues as eradicating disease, preventing climate warming, and reducing terrorism, will slow down. He believes that dialogue can eliminate misunderstandings and frictions, and both major countries need each other's innovation to promote development.