Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Alibaba founder Jack Ma and other leading entrepreneurs, demonstrating a change in Beijing's approach to private business, which had previously come under pressure from the authorities, Bloomberg reports. The slowdown of the Chinese economy and the risk of a recession are forcing Xi Jinping to seek allies even among entrepreneurs such as Jack Ma, who, due to criticism from the authorities, was unable to list his fintech company Ant Group on the stock exchange in 2020 and lost control of it in 2023.
The meeting was also attended by representatives of technology and manufacturing companies, including Meituan CEO Wang Xing, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, Huawei founder Zhen Zhengfei, as well as entrepreneurs from AI startup DeepSeek and robotics company Unitree. In his speech, Xi Jinping urged entrepreneurs to "maintain a competitive spirit and confidence in China's future," emphasizing that the difficulties are temporary.
This meeting was the strongest signal of business support from Beijing in recent years. "The fact that Xi Jinping himself shows up to meet with the entrepreneurs highlights the political significance of this meeting," said Professor You Chuanman of the Singapore University of Social Sciences.
China's stock market, which recently surged on the back of the success of DeepSeek's AI model, reacted with mixed results to the news of the meeting. Some investors took advantage of the moment to take profits, while further growth will depend on real political action.
Ma became the most famous victim of China's tightening of state control over the tech sector in 2020. The authorities then blocked the IPO of a subsidiary of Ant Group, and the businessman himself practically disappeared from the public space. The campaign against Alibaba was part of Xi's broader strategy to tighten state control and shift priorities to national security and technological self-sufficiency.
But the situation changed when the Chinese economy began to show signs of slowing down. The Chinese government has become more loyal to private business, especially to companies working in the fields of artificial intelligence and advanced technologies. Alibaba, for example, has made significant progress in developing the Qwen AI model, which is now being integrated into Apple devices in China.
Xi Jinping's meeting with Ma could potentially mean Alibaba's full return to the government's circle of trusted companies. Alibaba's recent actions, including its bet on AI, have helped the company increase its market capitalization by $90 billion this year.
However, the question remains: to what extent is Beijing really ready to change its policy? Full support for the private sector could stimulate stock markets and economic development, but much will depend on the government's concrete actions.
"It’s an ‘enabling policy’ rather than a 180-degree shift," You Chuanman notes. "China has been pivoting from over-regulation on the property market and private sector."
However, experts do not expect China to fully return to the model of supporting the private sector that existed before 2020, especially amid a likely escalation of the trade war with the United States.