Xi Jinping tells Alibaba’s Jack Ma and Chinese tech chiefs to ‘show their talent’
China’s president, Xi Jinping, has told businesses to “show their talent” at a meeting of Chinese industry leaders including the Alibaba founder, Jack Ma, as he attempts to halt an economic slump in the world’s second-largest economy.Xi met Ma, who was at the centre of a crackdown on the tech industry in recent years, as well as the bosses of the electric carmaker BYD, the battery manufacturer CATL, Tencent, Xiaomi, and the founder of Huawei, Ren ZhengfeiThe Chinese president was attending a symposium on private enterprises, where he stressed continuity in China’s economic development strategy.He also said its private business had “broad prospects and great promise” to create wealth and opportunity.China’s governance and the scale of its market give it an inherent advantage in developing new industries, Xi said.“It is the right time for the majority of private business and entrepreneurs to show their talent,” he was quoted as saying in remarks state media called an “important speech”.
Xi has spearheaded campaigns to increase government control over private industry, particularly in technology, which was considered to be unruly and disruptive as it underwent huge expansion, seemingly unconcerned by the tight state controls around other industries.But China is now struggling with an economic downturn driven by a housing crisis, stagnant low consumption and high youth unemployment.The meeting took place at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, with video on the state broadcaster CCTV on Monday showing Ma standing and applauding as Xi entered a room.Xi, Ren, and BYD’s Wang Chuanfu were filmed giving speeches but no audio or transcripts have been published.Liang Wenfeng, the founder of DeepSeek, a startup that is threatening to upset the tech world order with its artificial intelligence models, was also present.
The presence of top executives and companies at these high-profile events are typically seen by foreign investors as a sign of the businesses or individuals that are favoured by the government.The meeting with Ma was closely watched as the billionaire was once the most high-profile target of Chinese regulators, and once disappeared from public view for several months after a speech in 2020 in which he criticised Xi.Investors on Monday were scouring pictures and footage of the meeting to spot top bosses and trading accordingly.Executives from two of the Chinese tech industry’s biggest players – ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, and Baidu, which specialises in search and AI – did not attend, Reuters reported.Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionBaidu shares fell by more than 8% – the largest loser on the Hang Seng index – after no top executive was spotted.
However, reports of Xi’s visit to the symposium, which first emerged on Friday, helped spur gains in Asian markets as it raised hopes of renewed support in China’s private tech sector, which has been targeted by rounds of government crackdowns in the last few years.The tightly choreographed pro-business rally reflected policymakers’ concern about a slowdown in growth and efforts by the US to limit China’s technological development, analysts said.Xi’s move to gather business leaders underscores the importance of private-sector innovation for China to gain ground in technology, they said.“It’s a tacit acknowledgment that the Chinese government needs private-sector firms for its tech rivalry with the US,” said Christopher Beddor, the 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 US.
”Reuters contributed to this report
How Kieran Culkin came out of his brother’s shadow to become a mercurial, Bafta-nominated king of sarcasm
From Home Alone to Succession and A Real Pain, the actor has added a unique twist to his roles and is tipped for a best supporting role award this weekendOn Sunday evening, Kieran Culkin is up for the best supporting actor award at the Baftas. If he wins, he will probably give one of his startled, free-wheeling and characteristically funny speeches, though by now he may struggle to express surprise, given his extended run of triumphs at these events.In 2024, he picked up a Golden Globe for best actor in a television drama series for his performance as Roman Roy in Jesse Armstrong’s Succession. Last month, he nabbed the Golden Globe for best supporting actor for his role as Benji Kaplan in Jesse Eisenberg’s A Real Pain (he seems to respond well to direction from men called Jesse), which also landed him the four major American film critics awards, made him an odds-on favourite for an Oscar next month, and accounts for his Bafta nomination.All this attention may seem rather sudden, as though he were an overnight sensation, but Culkin, who appeared in Home Alone alongside his then famous older brother Macaulay, has been in the acting business for over 35 years
‘I’m an actor, not a mouthpiece’: Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey on fame and the pressure to speak out
Bridgerton, then Wicked, gave Jonathan Bailey a huge fanbase, but the responsibility on the actor to use his platform is intenseThe actor Jonathan Bailey sits at a large table in an otherwise empty room: charcoal cable knit sweater, loose pinstripe trousers, hair neatly coiffed. He is chewing gum, sipping coffee, talking through his recent career, and a certain serendipity that has rendered him reflective. At 36, he’s fresh from his turn as likely-lad love interest Fiyero in Hollywood’s blockbuster adaptation of Wicked; as a child, seeing the stage show was a milestone for him. “I remember thinking Fiyero was such a good part.” Later this year he will star in Jurassic World Rebirth alongside Mahershala Ali and Scarlett Johansson
Last chance to enter! The 2025 Observer/ Anthony Burgess prize for arts journalism closes soon
Are you a budding culture reviewer? Do you come out of a new show or finish the last page of a book and itch to open your laptop and set down your thoughts about why you so enjoyed – or detested – it?The deadline – 28 February – is looming for the 2025 Observer/Anthony Burgess prize for arts journalism. Established in 2012 with a prize fund of £4,000, this is the UK’s leading award for emerging critics.The prize commemorates the 30-year association of author Anthony Burgess with the Observer, for much of that time as the paper’s lead literary critic. Cultural journalism is at the heart of the New Review – and was central to Burgess’s life as a professional writer. Andrew Biswell, the director of the Anthony Burgess Foundation, points out that during the 1960s Burgess was for a time “the theatre critic of the Spectator, the opera critic of Queen magazine, the television critic of the Listener, and the restaurant critic of another journal
On my radar: Malachi Kirby’s cultural highlights
The writer and actor on his secret food obsession, Lessons in Chemistry on TV and the best place in London for a napThe actor and writer Malachi Kirby was born in London in 1989. He enrolled in a drama group at the Battersea Arts Centre aged 14 and later attended London’s Identity School of Acting. He was shortlisted for outstanding newcomer at the 2011 Evening Standard theatre awards, for Mogadishu. On TV he has appeared in the 2016 remake of Roots, Black Mirror, and as Darcus Howe in Steve McQueen’s Mangrove; his film work includes Boiling Point and Wicked Little Letters. Kirby, who lives on the outskirts of London, stars as Hezekiah Moscow in the Disney+ series A Thousand Blows, set in the world of illegal boxing in the Victorian East End
From Captain America to The White Lotus: a complete guide to this week’s entertainment
Captain America: Brave New WorldOut now In the latest instalment of Marvel mayhem, Anthony Mackie stars as Sam Wilson-slash-Captain America, with Chris Evans having bowed out. And replacing William Hurt following the veteran actor’s death is Harrison Ford, hulking out as antagonist Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, president of the USA and occasional Red Hulk. Oh brave new world indeed.Bridget Jones: Mad About the BoyOut now We’ve seen singleton Bridget, pregnant Bridget, now here comes widowed solo-parenting Bridget for the presumably final instalment in the Ms Jones chronicles, at least until Helen Fielding writes another bestseller. While raising her six- and 10-year-old children by the late Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), Bridget (Renée Zellweger) finds herself embroiled in another love triangle
The Guide #178: How AI took over the commercial break
The Guide doesn’t tend to focus on adverts very often. We’re usually more interested in the popular culture those commercials are busy rudely interrupting. Besides, complaining about the most annoying ones – like the Confused.com ad where a succession of people squeeze the mouths into a disgusting O-shape and mime whistling for reasons unknown – only affords them the attention they crave. My primary life ambition is to live in a world where they stop making the Domino-hoo-hoo ads, so I’m hoping that ignoring them may help make that utopia a reality
Insolvencies rise in England and Wales amid economic pressures; Lib Dem MP to appeal approval of Thames Water debt restructuring plan – as it happened
Thames Water wins court backing for £3bn debt package
Elon Musk keeps bringing his kids to work – and the reasons aren’t cute at all | Arwa Mahdawi
Meta plans to link US and India with world’s longest undersea cable project
Chessum back in only England change for Six Nations clash with Scotland
Jannik Sinner case ‘a million miles away from doping’, claims Wada official