The recent speech by former exiled leader Jack Ma at the Chinese President Xi Jinping highlights Beijing’s unwavering commitment to using cutting-edge technologies to maintain its economic development.
After requiring Alibaba’s Ant Group to halt its initial public offering in the United States in November 2020, Beijing tampering with the world sector’s requirements for a month and a half.
All digital platforms, including Douyin, Kuaishou, Alibaba and Tencent, had faced governmental clampdowns. While ride-hailing firms were fined for collecting user data without authorization, food-delivery platforms were accused of violating labour rights.
Ma, a businessman, spent time visiting agricultural tech companies around the world, spending time with his family in Tokyo, meeting with friends on his pleasure yacht in Europe, and meeting with his home there.  ,
In June 2022, Li Daokui, a former assistant to , the People’s Bank of China, said the clampdown on Chinese internet companies had generally ended.  ,
He explained that the removal of Ant’s Investor program in November 2020 was a political choice because Chinese leaders were shocked to see the names of numerous party members listed on the company’s shareholder list.
In March 2023, Ma officially returned to China after banishment. In July 2024, he gave a speech at Alibaba’s office in Hangzhou.
Some observers say Ma’s” self-exile” from late 2020 to first 2023 showed Xi’s negative approach towards China’s online companies and some private , companies. They claim that Beijing is now using Ma and a group of Hangzhou-based business leaders to demonstrate to the outside that China welcomes all tech firms.
Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares rose to HK$ 138.5 ( US$ 17.8 ) on February 21, 11.6 % up from a week earlier. Tencent’s shares surged 8.9 % to HK$ 517, while Kuaishou Technology’s grew 9.2 % to HK$ 58.4 for the same period.
” Xi’s symposium is of great significance”, a Chinese columnist using the pseudonym” Fengye”, or Maple Leaf, says in an article published by Beijing-based Zhengshang Canyue. The author continues:
The personal economy’s expansion in the new century and a new journey has many potentials and opportunities.  , After the US vote, the world economy continues to be stormy, and several European and American companies are in turmoil. Nevertheless, Chinese firms focus on impressive and cutting-edge solutions and keep increasing their profitability.
China’s artificial intelligence models surprised the world with their incredible performance, China’s robot dancers performed at the Spring Festival Gala, and Chinese electric cars slowly gained popularity for themselves in the eyes of the world thanks to their outstanding performance and quality.
He continues,” Jack Ma is an icon representing the first batch of Taiwanese Internet firms that has made remarkable achievements and laid a solid foundation for the emergence of several technology startups,” adding that it’s nice that he attends the symposium. Ma is an icon representing the second batch of Taiwanese Internet firms that has made remarkable achievements and laid a solid foundation for the emergence of the emergence of numerous technology startups.  ,
Additionally, he points out that Ma’s return to China may indicate that the billionaire saw strong growth prospects in China’s technology sector following the” Six Little Dragons in Hangzhou “‘s emergence but did not find any compelling projects abroad.
” Six Small Dragons” is a film.
According to the Chinese press, the Six Small Dragons in Hangzhou are DeepSeek, Unitree Robotics, Game Science, Deep Robotics, Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) and Manycore Tech.
DeepSeek was founded by Liang Wenfeng, a Zhejiang University student, in December 2023. On January 20 this time, the business launched DeepSeek-R1, which within time surpassed ChatGPT to be No. # 1 on the US free game download charts.  ,
Hangzhou Yushu Technology, known as Unitree, was founded by Wang Xingxing in 2016. At China Central Screens Spring Festival Gala on January 28, 2025, it’s dancing computers won acclaim.
Feng Ji and Yang Qi founded Foreign movie game studio Game Science in 2014.
Zhu Qiuguo and Li Chao co-founded Deep Robotics in 2017.
BCI, which is engaged in real-time thought decoding, distant machine power, and brain-machine co-evolution, was established by Han Bicheng in 2015.
Manycore Tech, a maker of 3D design technology, was co-founded by three Chinese alumni of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2011.
” Xi’s symposium highlighted Zhejiang, as the province has a good business environment” , , Wang Bin, a columnist for the Zhejiang Daily’s social media account, writes in an article.
Zhejiang is a place that embodies the animal contact. Anyone can sense this in their work and daily lives, Wang says. ” When a position is like a bay that , protects individuals, it is easier to keep people and businesses”.
China has experienced a flurry of cash flows since it discontinued its Covid laws in first 2023. According to some economists, the country’s economy is impacted by declining domestic use, rising political tensions between China and the US, and US level increases.
According to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, China’s net foreign direct investment ( FDI) decreased by US$ 168 billion last year, the biggest capital flight since 1990. US investment in China reached a historic substantial of US$ 344.4 billion in 2021, but it has since decreased.  ,
Chinese companies invested US$ 177 billion overseas in 2024, compared to US$ 4.5 billion that foreign investors simply sent to China.
Some foreign firms adopted a” China-plus-one” plan to invest not only in China but also in other countries as a result of the growing tensions between China and the US. Additionally, many Taiwanese firms are now exporting their factories abroad, fearing that US President Donald Trump may impose tariffs on imports from China.  ,
Alibaba’s AI prepare
It is questionable whether Beijing’s high-tech battle does help retain and recruit foreign funding, but it did increase Alibaba’s stock.
After The Knowledge learned on February 11 that Apple Inc. partnered with Alibaba to add AI capabilities to the phone, Alibaba’s stock also rose. Apple wants to release its AI-powered smartphones in China in May.  ,
On February 20, Alibaba Chief Executive Eddie Wu said in an investor call that , artificial generative intelligence ( AGI ) is at the core of the company’s AI strategy. He stated that the company will make significant investments in AI system, foundation models, and business transformation that will be driven by AI.  ,
One of the largest property management firms in Europe, Eurizon Capital, stated in an article that investors should be optimistic about Chinese securities for various reasons:
- Since 2023, there has been continued governmental relaxation in China.
- Growing China’s production and industrial prowess, shown by the growing industry deficit in 2024 and the subsequent rise of DeepSeek,
- Stabilizing estate business and client sentiment,
- Stable Chinese bonds and money.
According to Eurizon’s analysts, Beijing’s social and policy climate has changed since soon 2023 from the exceedingly disciplinary position taken against the private sector in the summer of 2021 to a more rational and market-friendly stance.
They continued, noting that while Foreign stocks are not cheap, the world still underweights them because some investors have adopted an ABC-style mindset, which includes “anything but China.”
Some experts believe it is prudent for China to show its technology sector, which outperforms other sectors, but this approach could sway Chinese hawks in the US and force them to sanction Chinese startups.  ,
Yong Jian contributes to the Asia Times. He is a Chinese blogger who specializes in Chinese systems, business, and politics.  ,
Read: China links all to DeepSeek in the country’s strategy.