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President Xi Jinping met with prominent private business leaders, including Alibaba's Jack Ma, on Monday, according to state media. The meeting comes after Xi Jinping has emphasized the importance of state-owned enterprises and cautioned against the "disorderly" expansion of the private sector during his time in office.
But reports last week said he was preparing to meet leading business luminaries, as he 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 standing and applauding as Xi entered a lavish room. CCTV did not immediately give details of the content of the meeting.
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. Other participants in Monday's meeting included Ren Zhengfei -- the founder of tech titan Huawei -- and Wang Chuanfu, who established electric-vehicle giant BYD.
