BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to chair a symposium to boost private sector sentiment next week that will be attended by the country’s business leaders including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, three people with knowledge of the meeting said.
Xi rarely chairs symposiums about the private sector and the event underscores the numerous challenges facing China Inc, from escalating tensions with the United States under President Donald Trump to sputtering growth for the domestic economy.
Many of the entrepreneurs will be from the tech sector and Xi is expected to encourage them to expand their businesses domestically and internationally amidst an intensifying Sino-US technology war, two sources said.
The symposium is likely to take place on Monday (Feb 17), said three sources. News of the symposium was first reported by Reuters.
Pony Ma, the chief executive officer (CEO) of tech giant Tencent is slated to be there, two sources said. Lei Jun, the chief executive of smartphone and electric vehicle maker Xiaomi as well as Wang Xingxing, the founder of robotics company Yushu Technology, are likely to attend, said one source.
A Huawei Technologies executive is also expected to participate, according to two sources.
Bloomberg News reported that DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng will attend. The artificial intelligence startup has rocked the tech world with models it says it developed at a fraction of the cost of Western rivals.
Reuters spoke to five people with knowledge of the symposium for this article, all of whom declined to be identified as they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The State Council Information Office, which handles media queries on behalf of the state leaders, did not immediately respond to a Reuters query about the event.
Alibaba, Tencent, Xiaomi, Huawei, Yushu and DeepSeek also did not respond to requests for comment.
Hong Kong-listed shares in Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi extended gains in afternoon trade on the news. Xiaomi finished at a record high with a 7 per cent gain. Tencent also closed 7 per cent higher while Alibaba ended up 6 per cent.
