Unleash your potential, Xi tells Jack Ma

The business leaders attended a symposium on private enterprises that was presided over by the Chinese premier.

Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday asked business leaders to unleash their talents in a rare meeting with billionaires including Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, in a bid to shore up sagging business confidence and reverse economic slowdown.

Ma, who had an uneasy relationship with the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and went on self-exile for a while, met Xi along with top corporate leaders Lei Jun, founder and CEO of Xiaomi, Pony Ma Huateng, founder of Tencent, Wang Chuanfu, chairman of electric carmaker BYD and Ren Zhengfei head of Huawei.

The business leaders attended a symposium on private enterprises that was presided over by Xi.

The meeting came amid concerns here over Donald Trump's return to the US presidency for a second term and his decision to hike tariffs against Chinese exports to the US amid the slowdown of the Chinese economy, which hovered at around 5 per cent GDP growth in the last few years.

Addressing the entrepreneurs, Xi said it is a prime time for private enterprises and entrepreneurs to give full play to their capabilities.

He urged reaching a consensus and firming up confidence to promote the healthy and high-quality development of the private sector, official media reported.

Xi assured that the government’s basic principles and policies concerning the development of the private economy have been incorporated into the socialist system, and “they cannot and will not change.”

The symposium is the first of its kind to be hosted by Xi since 2018. It came amid a severe ebb in private sector morale prompted by a volatile mix of economic issues, including heightened geopolitical tensions with the US and harsh regulatory crackdowns on some of the country’s corporate giants, reported the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post, which is owned by Ma.

“Difficulties and challenges facing the private economy largely emerged in reform and industrial upgrades … They are temporary, not long-term ones. They can be overcome,” Xi said.

He also vowed to implement central government support for private firms and promised to remove barriers to fair market competition and production.

Efforts to address the issue of arrears in payments owed to private enterprises and tackling arbitrary fines and inspections will also be key priorities in the work ahead, the newspaper quoted Xi as saying.

Ma's surprise announcement in 2019 to retire, stating that he preferred to die at a beach than at his work table, set off speculation that he was feeling the weight of the CPC. The ruling party firmly exercised its control over China’s top businesses, prompting Ma to downsize his businesses.

His retirement and subsequent anti-monopoly crackdowns by the CPC on a host of Chinese businesses including Tencent and ByteDance under its anti-monopoly campaign sparked speculation that the party headed by Xi is cutting the wealthy businesses to size to reduce their growing influence in China.

Ma returned to China in 2023 following assurances from Xi.

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 in the name of addressing monopolistic behaviour.

Although Beijing has made numerous overtures to improve 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, the report said.

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, it said.