China’s Xi meets business leaders, including Jack Ma, amid economic, geopolitical headwinds
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Mr Xi Jinping delivered a speech after listening to representatives of private companies, official news agency Xinhua said.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Feb 17 spoke at a symposium that was attended by business leaders including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, state media reported, as Beijing grapples with a slowing economy and growing tensions with the US.
Other private business leaders who attended the symposium included Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, Xiaomi’s Lei Jun, BYD’s Wang Chuanfu, Unitree’s Wang Xingxing, and CATL’s Robin Zeng, a video published by CCTV showed.
Meituan’s Wang Xing, China Feihe’s Leng Youbin and Will Semiconductor founder Yu Renrong also attended, the video showed.
Tencent’s Pony Ma was also there, a source familiar with the matter said, declining to be named as the meeting details were not public.
Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr Xi delivered a speech after listening to representatives of private companies, official news agency Xinhua said. The report did not provide any details about the symposium, held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Reuters, citing sources, had reported on Feb 14 that Mr Xi planned to chair a symposium to boost private sector sentiment on Feb 17 that would be attended by the country’s business leaders, including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma.
The symposium would be aimed at boosting private-sector sentiment, and Mr Xi was expected to encourage company chiefs to expand their businesses domestically and internationally amid an intensifying China-US technology war,
The symposium also comes as DeepSeek’s AI platform triggered investor speculation about its potential to buoy China’s broader tech sector, leading to calls for an upward repricing of Chinese assets.
Mr Xi has long stressed the need for China to achieve self-sufficiency in semiconductors and wants the country to use AI to drive economic development.
But China’s efforts have been hampered by export control measures on chips imposed by Washington, which is worried Beijing could use advanced semiconductors to boost its military capabilities.
“It’s a tacit acknowledgement that the Chinese government needs private-sector firms for its tech rivalry with the US,” said Mr Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Dragonomics in Hong Kong. “The government has no choice but to support them if it wants to compete with the US.”
Tech shares in Hong Kong have roared higher in recent weeks on a combination of optimism about the DeepSeek AI breakthrough and a thawing of the authorities’ approach to internet giants.
The Hang Seng technology index hit a three-year high in morning trade on Feb 17, having rallied on Feb 14 after Reuters reported Mr Xi was to chair the Feb 17 symposium. It slipped in volatile afternoon trade and was last down 1.3 per cent.
Mr Xi first chaired a high-profile symposium for the private sector in 2018, six years after he came to power. At the time, he pledged tax cuts and a level playing field while reaffirming that private firms would have access to financial backing.
“Despite the rising opportunities in the case of DeepSeek, it is also about guiding the private sector in the government-led direction and containing the potential risks to compete with the US,” said Mr Gary Ng, senior economist at Natixis.
“Still, the regulatory environment is the black box. As most AI development happens in the private sector, we cannot entirely rule out the outcome of a tighter-than-market-expected regulatory environment than we see now.” REUTERS
