BEIJING: President Xi Jinping held a rare meeting on Monday ( Feb 17 ) with some of the biggest names in China’s technology sector, such as Alibaba founder Jack Ma, urging them to” show their talent” and be confident in the power of China’s model and market.
The expertly staged pro-business protest, a change in Beijing’s approach to its tech giants following a four-year regulation clampdown, reflected policymakers ‘ concern about a sluggish growth and attempts by the United States to restrain China’s technological development, according to experts.
Xi’s proceed to collect business leaders, including those behind breakthrough successes despite US force in recent months, underscores the importance of private-sector technology for China to get ground in technology, they said.
According to Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Dragonomics in Hong Kong,” It’s a tacit acknowledgement that the Chinese government needs private sector firms for its tech rivalry with the United States.”
The state has no other option if it wants to compete with the United States.
The private business in China, which competes with state-owned businesses, contributes more than half of duty profits, more than 60 per cent of economic production and 70 per cent of technical development, standard estimates show.
The second-largest economy in the world is under more strain from weak domestic demand and a destabilizing debt problems in the property industry due to US taxes.
Liang Wenfeng, chairman of DeepSeek, a company that threatens to upset British AI projects with its lower-cost Artificial design, attended, two sources familiar with the appointment said.
The same setting that Xi used to convene a similar meeting in the first administration of US President Donald Trump was the ceremonial Great Hall of the People.
Xi’s remarks, summarised hours later by state media, stressed continuity in China’s economic development strategy. However, he added that its private sector had “broad prospects and great promise” to generate wealth and opportunity.
China’s governance and the scale of its market give it an inherent advantage in developing new industries, Xi said.
He was quoted as saying in remarks that state media called an “important speech” that “it is the right time for the majority of private business and entrepreneurs to show their talent.
The first state media images showed Xi speaking to assembled executives standing in rows ahead of him. Investors frantically compared the images to determine who was in or out among the top business leaders.
Images and honors were presented to national champions in electric vehicles and chip development by Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei and BYD’s Wang Chuanfu seated directly in front of Xi.
Baidu’s shares dropped by more than 8 %, making it the largest loser on the Hang Seng index since no top executive was spotted. According to two sources with knowledge of the situation, the founders of Baidu and ByteDance were among those who did not attend.
Neither company’s officials immediately responded to requests for comment.
On Friday, Reuters reported, citing sources, that Xi planned to chair the business meeting.