Meeting Between China’s President and Business Leaders Spark Optimism

A meeting between Chinese president Xi Jinping and some of the country’s foremost business leaders this week has fuelled excitement and speculation, after Alibaba founder Jack Ma was pictured at the event.

The charismatic and colourful Ma, who was one of China’s most prominent businessmen, had withdrawn from public life after criticising China’s financial sector in 2020.

His reappearance at Monday’s event has sparked a wave of discussion, with experts and analysts wondering what it means for him, China’s tech sector and the economy in general.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive – tech stocks, including those of Alibaba, rallied soon after the event.

On Thursday, the e-commerce giant reported financial results that beat expectations, with shares ending the trading day in New York more than eight per cent higher.

The company’s shares are up 60 percent since the beginning of the year.