On the 17th, Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a private sector symposium and met with leaders of major Chinese tech corporations.
According to the state-run China Central Television (CCTV), President Xi Jinping met with the founder of DeepSeek, Liang Wenpeng; the founder of Tencent, Ma Huateng; the founder of Alibaba, Jack Ma; the founder of Huawei, Ren Zhengfei; and the chairman of BYD, Wang Chuanfu among others at the private sector symposium held in Beijing on the 17th. This is the first time President Xi has held a forum with private corporations in five years since November 2018.
It is reported that Wang Huning, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Premier Li Qiang, and Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang were among those attending on behalf of the Chinese government.
After hearing the remarks from six representatives of private corporations, President Xi said, "The development of the private economy has great potential, and the prominence of many private corporations and entrepreneurs is timely," adding, "I hope that the ‘first to get rich’ will promote ‘common prosperity.’" He emphasized both his focus on wealth distribution through ‘common prosperity’ and Deng Xiaoping's principle of ‘first to get rich.’
Additionally, President Xi reportedly raised challenges for private economic development, including the elimination of obstacles to fair market competition, solutions to funding difficulties for private corporations, resolution of debt problems among private corporations, and the rectification of undue pressures and protection of legitimate rights and interests.
In particular, foreign media noted President Xi's meeting with Jack Ma. In October 2020, Ma criticized Chinese financial regulations harshly during a forum attended by top officials including Wang Qishan, who is referred to as President Xi's right-hand man, and faced political repression, spending four years abroad. Following Ma's remarks, the public listing of Ant Group, a subsidiary of Alibaba, was canceled in November of the same year, and regulations on the private financial institutional sector were strengthened.
Regarding Jack Ma's appearance at the symposium, Bloomberg News stated, "This shows a change in the attitude of the Chinese leadership, which had been displeased with private corporations." Fei Qian Liu, an economist at Fidelity International, remarked on CNBC that it is a "very clear signal" of support for entrepreneurs in the private sector at the highest level.