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the new new world
The uncertain reaction to Xi Jinping’s display of warmth made sense: Executives are eager for a reset after years in the cold but ever wary of meddling.
Feb. 22, 2025, 12:00 a.m. ET
When Xi Jinping, China’s leader, made his entrance at a symposium with a group of top entrepreneurs this week, he seemed to be in good spirits.
China has had a few good weeks. The artificial intelligence models by the start-up DeepSeek sent U.S. stocks tumbling and Western commentators screaming, “Sputnik moment.” Then an animated film based on Chinese mythology raked in nearly $2 billion. Mr. Xi signaled that he stood behind the private sector at the meeting on Monday, pushing the Hong Kong stock market to its highest point in three years.
For China, it all provided a respite from two years of malaise — chronic economic problems and challenging geopolitics.
What remained unclear is how much of a lasting boost China’s economy could get from the ingenuity of one start-up, or how much confidence the business community could derive from the sudden friendliness of a leader who has a reputation for distrusting and disliking the private sector. Interpretations of the meeting varied widely.
“Is China,” one social media commenter asked, “now like Shanghai in 1949,” after which the private sector was nationalized under Communist Party rule? “Or is it Shenzhen in 1979,” when China started the policies of reforming and opening up its economy?
“No one knows,” was the response from another commenter, who added that many of the senior leaders in attendance probably didn’t know, either.
