Chinese President Xi Jinping met on Monday with the country’s leading entrepreneurs, including Alibaba’s Jack Ma, to revitalize the private sector and drive stronger economic growth.
Premier Li Qiang, Wang Huning, head of China’s top political advisory body, and Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang were also present at the meeting.
Analysts said Xi’s ‘important speech’ at Monday’s forum symbolized Beijing’s desire to show a more positive trend towards the private sector.
‘The purpose of the meeting is to say [to the private sector], ‘We want to support you, we need you to boost technology innovation and consumption,” said Zhang Xiaoyan, a finance professor at Tsinghua University, speaking at the Asian Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association in Hong Kong.
He added that the government wanted to ‘instill confidence’ in Chinese companies.
Amid geopolitical tensions and domestic economic pressures, Beijing is working to improve the business climate in China and strengthen economic growth.
Trivium, a Beijing-based policy research center, described the meeting as a ‘high-risk’ affair.
‘If Xi can convince participants and markets that he is now pro-business, it will go a long way to put the economy on a better trajectory,’ the firm said in a report. ‘But if Xi uses the symposium to emphasize that private companies are developing at the will of the state, this could further dampen sentiment,’ it added.
Other key technology executives present at Monday’s meeting included Robin Zeng, founder and chairman of leading battery maker CATL, and Wang Xing, boss of Meituan. Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei and Xiaomi chairman Lei Jun addressed the top officials, according to state media reports.
Tencent chairman Pony Ma and Wang Chuanfu, chairman of electric vehicle manufacturer BYD, and Wang Xingxing, founder of robotics group Unitree, were also present.
China’s slowing economic growth has put pressure on the private sector, while executives have faced intense scrutiny over corruption allegations and detentions by local authorities.
In past meetings with business leaders, Xi has promised tax cuts and a level playing field with state-owned enterprises.
China’s private investment fell 0.1 percent year-on-year in 2024. Its share of total fixed asset investment fell from 56.42 percent at the end of 2019 to 50.08 percent at the end of last year.
However, the emergence of pioneering artificial intelligence models from start-up DeepSeek helped renew interest in Chinese technology and ignited the market for the country’s technology stocks.
The Hang Seng Tech index, a benchmark of the top 30 technology companies listed in Hong Kong, is up 24 percent since the start of the year as investors responded to DeepSeek’s breakthrough and Beijing’s positive messages for the tech sector.
‘The theme of this symposium is, not surprisingly, strengthening scientific and technological innovation and restoring the confidence of private enterprises,’ said Tang Dajie, a senior fellow at private think tank China Enterprise Institute.
These success stories have become all the more important as a new trade war with the US seems inevitable. After Trump imposed 10 percent tariffs on all Chinese products earlier this month, Beijing retaliated with 10 to 15 percent tariffs on certain products and more export controls on critical minerals.
