President Xi Jinping’s embrace of Chinese tech bosses in a rare public meeting is fueling hope Beijing is shifting its stance to give the private sector a freer hand as it fights a trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Four years after launching a regulatory crackdown that plunged the tech sector into turmoil, China’s top leader sat down publicly for the first time with Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, whose firm bore the brunt of that campaign. Also on the guest list Monday were rising stars from robotics start-up Unitree, electric car giant BYD and AI newcomer DeepSeek — firms rolling out world-beating innovations despite U.S. export controls.
While a similar show of support from Xi in 2018 proved fleeting, developing national tech champions is core to Beijing’s plan for boosting the economy as it deflates a bubble in the property market that once drove about a quarter of growth. Underscoring the importance of spurring innovation, high-tech industries contributed to 15% of gross domestic product last year and are set to overtake the housing sector in 2026, according to Bloomberg Economics.
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