Beijing (AFP) - Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday that challenges facing the country’s embattled private sector were “surmountable”, as he met with top business leaders including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma.
Since coming to power more than a decade ago, Xi has strengthened the role of state enterprises in the world’s second-largest economy and waged crackdowns on areas of the private sector undergoing “disorderly” expansion.
But reports last week said he was preparing to meet leading business luminaries, as Beijing battles a slowing economy beset by a real-estate crisis, persistently low consumption and high youth unemployment.
State broadcaster CCTV reported Monday that the meeting had taken place at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, with video showing Ma and rows of other entrepreneurs standing and applauding as Xi entered a lavish room.
In a later readout, state news agency Xinhua reported Xi “stressed that the difficulties and challenges currently faced by the development of the private economy have generally appeared during the process of reform and development, and industrial transformation”.
“They are partial rather than general, temporary rather than long-term, and surmountable rather than unsolvable,” Xi said, according to Xinhua.
The Chinese leader reportedly urged attendees to “unify thought and action” around the ruling Communist Party’s economic policies, “see the prospects, see the light, and see the future”.
He said Beijing was focused on removing obstacles to commerce, promoting fair competition, cracking down on arbitrary fines and protecting business interests.
Hailing the “significant advantages” of China’s socialist market system, Xi added that he expected entrepreneurs to “have the ambition to serve the country… promote common prosperity and make greater contributions to promoting Chinese-style modernisation”.
- Jack Ma back? -
Xinhua did not mention Ma’s attendance or say whether he spoke at the conference.
But it reported that six business representatives – including Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, and Wang Chuanfu, CEO of electric-vehicle giant BYD, gave “suggestions on promoting the development of the private economy under the new situation”, without giving details.
Ma’s inclusion hints at the billionaire magnate’s potential public rehabilitation after years out of the spotlight following a tangle with regulators.
The former English teacher founded tech behemoth Alibaba in 1999 and built it into one of China’s most recognisable and dominant private companies.
He once cultivated an outspoken public persona but reined in his pronouncements towards the end of the last decade as Xi oversaw a sweeping crackdown on the country’s once-freewheeling technology and internet platforms.
In 2020, authorities cancelled the blockbuster IPO of Alibaba affiliate Ant Group at the last minute – notably after Ma made a speech criticising regulators.
Ma is no longer an executive at Alibaba but is believed to retain a significant shareholding in the company, despite spending the past few years focusing on philanthropy and rural education.
Alibaba, which is expected to publish its latest quarterly earnings report this week, has seen its shares soar more than 40 percent so far this year.
- Growing pains -
Also in attendance were Robin Zeng, the founder of battery powerhouse CATL; Lei Jun, chairman of consumer tech firm Xiaomi; and Wang Xing, the co-founder of internet platform Meituan.
China has struggled to sustain a strong recovery from the pandemic and last year its economy expanded five percent, which was among the slowest in decades.
Beijing is expected to target a similar level of growth in 2025, but may face headwinds as US President Donald Trump renews his hardball trade policy with hefty tariffs.
Trump has already announced additional levies of 10 percent on all imports from China, with Beijing hitting back immediately with tariffs of its own, targeting coal and gas.