LOS ANGELES — The Milken Institute Global Conference has a reputation for being dominated by financiers in suits. But although a dress code of business attire is unofficially enforced, DealBook has met many attendees who don’t work on Wall Street. (We particularly liked our conversation with the founder of a technology firm who had strong feelings about United States maritime laws.)
While attendees dined on roast beef and sipped Fiji water, a lunchtime panel assembled on stage. The panel consisted of Chris Viehbacher, the chief executive of Sanofi Aventis; Barry Sternlicht, the chief of Starwood Capital Group; Xi-Qing Gao, the president of the China Investment Corporation; and Eike Batista, the Brazilian billionaire.
Mr. Viehbacher, whose experience atop the French pharmaceutical company Sanofi has given him a window into Europe’s problems, said he did not think the Continent’s austerity measures were moving quickly enough or cutting deeply enough.
“People don’t change because they see the light,” he said. “They change because they feel the heat.”
Unlike the morning panels, in which China was mentioned for no other apparent reason than the existence of an unspoken rule that all panels at Milken must mention China, having Mr. Gao on stage provided an opportunity to discuss the nation’s growth with an executive of its largest sovereign wealth fund.
“China’s economy is going to go in a healthy direction,” he said.
But Mr. Gao, acting at times as an unofficial spokesman for China, faced some opposition from fellow panelists over the country’s labor practices.
When Mr. Batista mentioned FoxConn, saying that the electronics manufacturer’s low labor costs made it “impossible to compete” for the business of companies like Apple in Brazil, Mr. Gao joked, “You mean in our sweatshops?”
After the nervous laughter died down, Mr. Gao clarified: “We’re treating our workers better now.”
To prove the point that labor costs in China had risen considerably in the last decade, Mr. Gao said that the price of hiring a nanny had jumped tenfold.
The tone of the discussion surrounding China, as on other Milken panels, was equal parts fearful and admiring. When Mr. Sternlicht, the Starwood Capital chief, expressed concern that the United States could not be counted on for steady growth, he turned to Mr. Gao with a smile.
“It’s the first rule of real estate: never beat up your banker,” Mr. Sternlicht said of China. “We need you guys.”
As lunch wound down, conference organizers announced they were drawing the winners of a charity raffle. The holder of the winning ticket would get two Porsches — a coupe and an S.U.V. — and $75,000 in cash.
DealBook did not stick around to hear the winner’s name.