China’s President Xi Jinping has attended a symposium on private enterprises, official news agency Xinhua said on Monday (February 17, 2025), a rare move that comes as Beijing grapples with a slowing economy and growing tensions with the United States.
The Xinhua report said Mr. Xi delivered a speech after listening to representatives of private companies. The report did not provide any details about the symposium, held in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, including who the attendees were from private enterprises.
Reuters reported on Friday (February 14, 2025), citing sources, Mr. Xi planned to chair a symposium to boost private sector sentiment on Monday (February 17, 2025) that would be attended by the country’s business leaders, including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma.
“The symposium would be aimed at boosting private-sector sentiment, and Mr. Xi was expected to encourage company chiefs to expand their businesses domestically and internationally amid an intensifying China-U.S. technology war,” the sources had said.
Mr. Xi first chaired a high-profile symposium for the private sector in 2018, six years after he came to power. At the time, he pledged tax cuts and a level playing field while reaffirming that private firms would have access to financial backing.
The symposium also comes as DeepSeek’s AI platform has triggered investor speculation about its potential to buoy China’s broader tech sector, leading to calls for an upward repricing of Chinese assets.
Mr. Xi has long stressed the need for China to achieve self-sufficiency in semiconductors and wants the country to use AI to drive economic development.
But China’s efforts have been hampered by export control measures on chips imposed by Washington which is worried Beijing could use advanced semiconductors to boost its military capabilities.
“It’s a tacit acknowledgement that the Chinese government needs private-sector firms for its tech rivalry with the U.S.,” said Christopher Beddor, deputy China research director at Gavekal Dragonomics in Hong Kong. “The government has no choice but to support them if it wants to compete with the U.S.”
Tech shares in Hong Kong have roared higher in recent weeks on a combination of optimism about the DeepSeek AI breakthrough and a thawing of authorities’ approach to internet giants.
The index hit a three-year high in morning trade on Monday (February 17, 2025), having rallied on Friday (February 14, 2025) after Reuters reported Mr. Xi was to chair Monday’s (February 17, 2025) symposium. It was broadly steady shortly after state media reports on his speech on Monday, February 17, 2025.
What’s the significance of Xi’s meeting with private enterprises?
Reuters reported last week that the symposium is aimed at boosting private-sector sentiment, and Mr. Xi was expected to encourage executives to expand their businesses domestically and internationally amid a deepening China-U.S. technology war.
Here’s what people are saying about the meeting:
FRED HU, FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN, PRIMAVERA CAPITAL GROUP, HONG KONG:
“President Xi’s meeting with Chinese private entrepreneurs clearly represents a major course correction in China’s policies towards private businesses. The private sector, long the backbone of the Chinese economy and the most important growth engine, has been battered in recent years by mounting policy and regulatory uncertainties, with dire consequences to China’s economy, and worse, to its labour market with rising youth unemployment.
“The leadership’s well-publicised meeting with some of the country’s most high-profile entrepreneurs, such as Jack Ma, couldn’t come at a more critical juncture and would likely dispel many, if not all, of the lingering doubts about the country’s policy orientations. It should help reassure rattled entrepreneurs and lift up business/investor confidence in China.”
TOM NUNLIST, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AT POLICY RESEARCH CONSULTANCY TRIVIUM CHINA:
“The tech crackdown has been definitively over for some time and the government has been trying to push increased confidence for the private sector, and tech sector in particular.
“There’s been some continued scepticism because at the end of the day it’s Xi Jinping’s opinion that matters most. You cannot do better than having Xi Jinping personally give the nod of approval. I think it took so long to have this meeting because Xi is changing course.”
XIAOYAN ZHANG, CHAIR PROFESSOR OF FINANCE AND ASSOCIATE DEAN AT PBC SCHOOL OF FINANCE, TSINGHUA UNIVERSITY, BEIJING:
“I think the meeting’s purpose is to make sure that the private sector understands, for the stability and for the growth of the economy, they are a very important part of the economy.
“I think the purpose is to tell them ‘we want to support you. We need you to boost innovation, technological innovation, and we need you to boost consumption’. I think (the purpose is) to inject confidence in there.”
GARY NG, SENIOR ECONOMIST FOR NATIXIS, HONG KONG:
“Despite the rising opportunities in the case of DeepSeek, it is also about guiding the private sector in the government-led direction and containing the potential risks to compete with the U.S.
“The market reads it as a positive signal to include Jack Ma in such a meeting and hope for the end of the tech crackdown. Still, the regulatory environment is the black box. As most AI development happens in the private sector, we cannot entirely rule out the outcome of a tighter-than-market-expected regulatory environment than we see now.”
CHRISTOPHER BEDDOR, DEPUTY CHINA RESEARCH DIRECTOR, GAVEKAL DRAGONOMICS, HONG KONG:
“I think it’s a tacit acknowledgement that the Chinese government needs private-sector firms for its tech rivalry with the U.S. Policymakers would probably prefer if industrial-policy planning and state-owned enterprises were able to make innovative breakthroughs at the technological frontier.
“But the disruptive innovations are coming from private-sector companies. The government has no choice but to support them if it wants to compete with the U.S. His (Jack Ma’s) presence would be hugely symbolic of how the government’s stance towards the tech sector has changed. If there’s one person associated with the tech crackdown, it’s Jack Ma.
“As for the signal – we’ve seen Xi run this playbook before. He clearly wants to send a message that the government is now supportive of the tech sector, and in turn instil confidence among tech entrepreneurs. It’s more or less a total reversal of the policy stance from a few years ago, when officials vowed to curb the “disorderly” expansion of capital.”
ALFREDO MONTUFAR-HELU, HEAD OF THINK TANK THE CONFERENCE BOARD’S CHINA CENTER:
“After DeepSeek, Beijing is showing it understands that innovation and growth from the private sector, especially tech companies, is the best way forward for economic growth.”
Published – February 17, 2025 01:57 pm IST
