Xi Jinping gathers China’s tech entrepreneurs for ‘high-stakes’ symposium

The Chinese president brought together the heads of leading businesses - including Alibaba’s Jack Ma - for the first time since 2018

President Xi Jinping hosted a meeting with China’s top entrepreneurs on Monday – the first gathering of its kind since 2018 – in a highly anticipated event that signalled Beijing’s clear support to the private sector, particularly the tech industry.

Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba Group; Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi; Pony Ma Huateng, founder and CEO of Tencent; Wang Chuanfu, chairman and CEO of electric carmaker BYD; and Ren Zhengfei, founder and CEO of Huawei Technologies were among the attendees. Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.

“While the symposium conveyed the government’s support for businesses, its greater significance lies in sending a signal to more private enterprises,” said Su Yue, principal economist for China with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

“The selection of the companies also reflects that development remains Beijing’s top priority, rather than prioritising security at the cost of growth.”

Other business figures at the symposium included Zeng Yuqun, chairman of battery giant CATL; Leng Youbin, chairman and CEO of baby milk formula supplier Feihe; Nan Cunhui, chairman of electrical devices firm Zhejiang Chint Electrics; Wang Xingxing, founder of robotics firm Unitree; Liu Yonghao, chairman of animal feed producer New Hope; and Yu Renrong, founder and chairman of Will Semiconductor.

Also present at the meeting were Premier Li Qiang, Wang Huning – head of China’s top political advisory body – and Ding Xuexiang, the vice-premier in charge of technological development.

Those invited and their companies were either leaders in their respective industries or played a crucial role in safeguarding China’s industrial supply chain through technological innovation, Su said. Some have also made significant progress in helping to align Chinese business practices with international standards.

While other officials and parliamentary groups regularly meet with entrepreneurs, the last time Xi took part in a meeting with business executives at this level of visibility was in November 2018, another period when worries abounded over the state of the country’s private sector.

Confidence among entrepreneurs and investors in China has been muted amid a sluggish domestic economic recovery, worsening geopolitical tensions with the US and earlier regulatory crackdowns on some of the country’s corporate giants – including Alibaba – in the name of addressing monopolistic behaviour.

Although Beijing has made numerous overtures to shore up business sentiment in the past year, enacting new laws to promote and protect the private sector, these efforts have frequently been undermined by contradictory actions from local law enforcement. Some localities, bereft of revenue after a decline in land sales, began penalising firms with heavy fines – an action that received heavy criticism from central officials.

The reappearance of Jack Ma at the high-level meeting is being viewed as the most promising signal by the market, said Ding Shuang, chief Greater China economist at Standard Chartered Bank. The Alibaba founder has kept a low profile since late 2020, when Beijing halted the initial public offering of fintech subsidiary Ant Group.

“[He] is still widely seen as a representative of the private sector and innovation,” Ding said. “This meeting is also an official acknowledgement of the contribution of private businesses in boosting technology innovation.”

Trivium, a Beijing-headquartered policy research centre, called the meeting a “high-stakes” affair.

“If Xi can convince attendees and the markets that he is now pro-business, it will go a long way to putting the economy on a better trajectory,” the firm said in a report. “But if Xi uses the symposium to emphasise that private companies prosper at the will of the state, it could tank sentiment even further.”

China’s private investment fell 0.1 per cent year on year in 2024. Its proportion in total fixed asset investment dropped to 50.08 per cent at the end of last year from 56.42 per cent at the end of 2019.

However, rapid technological developments – most recently and notably represented by the domestic artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek – have provided policymakers with a new avenue for sustainable economic growth and investors with cause for renewed enthusiasm.

“The theme of this symposium is, with no surprise, strengthening scientific and technological innovation and further restoring the confidence of private enterprises,” said Tang Dajie, a senior researcher with the private think tank China Enterprise Institute.

These success stories have taken on greater importance as a new trade war with the US appears inevitable. After Trump imposed 10 per cent tariffs on all Chinese products earlier this month, Beijing retaliated with tariffs of 10 to 15 per cent on certain products and greater export controls on critical minerals.

DeepSeek and China’s leading robotics firms have fallen under the spotlight in Beijing and Washington’s extensive rivalry over the future of global technology, with the companies becoming symbols of the East Asian powerhouse’s innovative potential.

“Interestingly, during Trump’s inauguration, many tech industry leaders were also present. The competition between the two countries in the technology sector will be the most intense and is bound to shape the trajectory of their economic strength,” said Su from EIU.

Though stock markets in both Hong Kong and mainland China rallied on Friday as news of the symposium broke, some correction had taken place by close of business on Monday, with the CSI 300 rising by 0.21 per cent and the Hang Seng Index falling by 0.02 per cent.

Ji Siqi & Luna Sun

South China Morning Post