zeeshan khan
Following decades of a regulation crackdown, Chinese leader Xi Jinping received Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma and the nation’s top technological executives in China on Monday, an event that suggests authorities may be moving the nation in a more favorable to businesses path.
In accordance to a CCTV video reveal, the other businessmen there were Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun, the Huawei ceo Zhengfei Ren, BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu, CATL CEO Zeng Yuqun, Tencent CEO Pony Ma, Meituan CEO Wang Xing, DeepSeek CEO Liang Wenfeng, and BYD CEO Wang Chuanfu.
The Chinese leaders informed these businessmen that they had “huge capability and bright potential,” reported to state news organization Xinhua. He pledged to remove obstacles to fair competition in the market and stated that the nation’s economic difficulties were only transitory.
He stated at the gathering in the Great Hall of the People, where he convened an analogous conference with executives of privately held companies in 2018, that “now is an ideal moment for small businesses and individuals to succeed.”
The conference took place only weeks after the most recent AI model from Chinese firm DeepSeek shocked AI players and international stock markets by offering similar results to US-based major companies at a much cheaper cost. The company’s achievement has also given China’s IT industry hope as it continues to recover from a harsh three-year governmental campaign.
The project was started after Ma made a landmark speech in late 2020 criticizing Chinese banks and financial organizations. His harsh criticism led to the largest regulatory crackdown in Chinese history, which affected the growth of additional internet giants like Tencent, the cab-hailing app Didi, and food delivery company Meituan. The once-vociferous creator, Ma, has since mostly disappeared from the public eye.
Angela Huyue Zhang, an associate professor of law in University of Southern California that published a book regarding the nation’s supervision of tech firms, said his prominent presence at the conversation via Xi indicates officials have finally gotten past their clampdown as worries regarding the size of his company are mostly solved.
“The government has made clear that it respects and depends on business to drive invention and boost development as its own economy slows and international challenges increase.”
A strong team
In the midst of rising US-China trade tensions and a more hawkish global climate, the second-largest economy in the world is having difficulties. A collapsing real estate market and low trust among consumers have caused the economy to stagnate rather than recover rapidly after China relaxed its strict financial rules towards the year of 2022.
Since then, Beijing’s more authoritarian posture has worried the private sector, whom its leadership has often tried to enliven. Private businesses make up more than 60% of China’s GDP and more than 80% of jobs, while being much smaller than the governmental sector.
Fred Hu, head of investment firm Primavera Capital, told Reuters that Xi’s conversation with individuals “clearly marks an important path adjustment” in China’s policy toward private enterprises.
He said that the business community, which has historically been the foundation of the Chinese economy and the main driver of development, has suffered greatly in recent years due to growing policy and regulatory ambiguity, which has had a negative impact on the economy of China and, more severe, its labor market, as seen by the rise in young unemployment.
