Chinese president Xi Jinping held a rare meeting with some of the countries biggest technology leaders on Monday in a sign of Beijing’s growing urgency to prop up the sector amid rivalry with the US.
Xi urged attendees to “show their talent” and be confident in the power of China’s model and market in a symposium attended by key names such as Huawei’s Ren Zhengfei, BYD’s Wang Chuanfu, DeepSeek’s Liang Wenfeng and even Alibaba’s once-pariah founder, Jack Ma.
Meanwhile, the absence of a key Chinese tech leader from the meet — Baidu founder Robin Li — triggered a sharp fall in shares of the company that was once touted as China’s closest rival to OpenAI.
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Concern over Li’s absence erased $2.4 billion off Baidu’s market value in hours as the company’s stock plunged as much as 8.8% in early trade before ending the day down nearly 7%.
Founders of ByteDance, the TikTok-parent currently trying to curry favour with US President Donald Trump, was also not seen at the summit, sources told Reuters.
Investors and market players pay close attention to the presence of senior executives at important meetings, with the absence of a corporate leader often triggering speculation over a company’s standing.
Such speculation is partly rooted in Beijing’s unpredictable moves in the past, including a years-long clampdown on top technology giants that eroded a collective $1 trillion off of their market values.
But Monday’s tightly choreographed pro-business rally marks a turnaround in Beijing’s approach to the industry in the face of a slowdown in growth, deflationary concerns and a bitter tech and tariff war with the US.
Xi’s move to gather business leaders, including those behind breakout successes despite US pressure in recent months, underscores the importance of private-sector innovation for China to gain ground in technology, analysts said.
“It’s a tacit acknowledgement that the Chinese government needs private-sector firms for its tech rivalry with the United States,” 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 United States.”
‘We need you’
Xi held the meeting in the ceremonial Great Hall of the People. He used the same setting in 2018 for a similar meeting during the trade war at the time of the first administration of US President Donald Trump.
Speaking to the gathering, Xi stressed continuity in China’s economic development strategy, state media said.
He also said China’s private businesses had “broad prospects and great promise” to create wealth and opportunity — a rare remark from the socialist leader who has, in recent years, doubled down on a push for “common prosperity”.
Xi also said China’s governance and the scale of its market give it an inherent advantage in developing new industries.
“It is the right time for the majority of private business and entrepreneurs to show their talent,” he was quoted as saying.
The private sector in China, which competes with state-owned companies, contributes more than half of tax revenue, more than 60% of economic output and 70% of tech innovation, official estimates show.
Xiaoyan Zhang, a finance professor at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, said Monday’s meeting was intended to acknowledge the importance of private industry and to try to “inject confidence”.
“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,” Zhang told Reuters.
Top names in attendance
Participants at the meet showcased recent business success stories with a wide public following in China.
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei and BYD’s Wang Chuanfu sat directly in front of Xi, images showed, seats of honour for national champions in electric vehicles and chip development.
Also in attendance was Xiaomi’s Lei Jun, a celebrity CEO who has pushed his smartphone and appliance company into EVs.
Another participant was Wang Xingxing, founder of Unitree, a company whose dancing humanoid robots became extremely popular during a state-backed Lunar New Year’s gala early this month. The robots seemed aimed at Tesla’s earlier efforts to impress Wall Street with its Optimus robot.
Other executives present included CATL’s Robin Zeng, Meituan’s Wang Xing, China Feihe’s Leng Youbin and Will Semiconductor founder Yu Renrong, a video by state-media CCTV showed.
Tencent’s Pony Ma was also there, two sources familiar with the meeting said.
Jack Ma surprise
A tech leader whose presence most interested analysts was Alibaba founder Jack Ma who largely withdrew from public life after getting in hot water with authorities over a speech he gave in 2020 criticising China’s regulatory system.
An angry Beijing tanked the $37 billion IPO of his fintech company Ant that was slated for that year.
His business empire and the wider technology industry were then targeted by a regulatory crackdown, and his time out of the limelight represented a reversal of fortunes for China’s private sector.
Analysts said Ma’s presence at Monday’s symposium had the potential to boost confidence in Beijing.
The Hang Seng technology index hit a three-year high in morning trade on Monday. It closed down less than 1%.
- Reuters, with additional editing and inputs from Vishakha Saxena
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