They were all there, but it was Jack who stole the show again. On Monday, February 17, the Chinese president was in Beijing to welcome the top bosses of the country’s private companies. The CEOs and founders of BYD, Huawei, Meituan, Tencent and Xiaomi applauded Xi Jinping, who, according to the official media, delivered a “great” speech.
In the video broadcast by the state television channel CCTV, there is no live sound, but rather violins, to accompany this studious meeting, in jackets and without ties. They were there to save the country. And it was well worth rehabilitating Jack Ma, the head of e-commerce giant Alibaba, banned in 2020 for daring to criticize the country’s state-owned banks. And, behind him, the entire private sector.
The situation is critical. Scalded by the real estate crisis, the Chinese are restricting their consumption and economic growth is moribund, sustained only by exports. So there’s no need for subtitles to understand the content of the speeches. The most important thing is elsewhere, in the message.
Subtle balancing act
For years, the Chinese president relied on state-owned enterprises, showered with subsidies. He bristled at the wealth and arrogance of private entrepreneurs, hence the need to rein them in at the first sign of misconduct, to show who’s the real boss.
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