Jack Ma’s return to China amidst govt’s bid to calm private sector anxiety, says report

Alibaba founder Jack Ma has returned to China after staying overseas for more than a year.

His prolonged absence was seen by many as a reflection of the cautious mood among China's private businesses and policymakers who are working to revive the country's economy. 

As per a report by Reuters, Ma's return may help alleviate concerns among private-sector businesses in China, which have faced challenges during the country's regulatory crackdown over the past two years.

His reappearance in public is a sign of the government's more lenient stance toward the private sector, as leaders seek to boost the economy following the impact of COVID-19 over the past three years.

On Monday, rumours of Jack Ma's return to China started circulating on Chinese social media platforms, and later his return was confirmed by a school he had visited, as well as the Alibaba-owned South China Morning Post newspaper. 

During his visit, Ma, who was a former English teacher, talked about various topics including an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot, and expressed his desire to return to teaching one day. 

The visit was made to the Yungu School, which was founded by Ma and other co-founders of Alibaba in 2017 in Hangzhou, the city where the e-commerce giant is based.

Jack Ma's prolonged stay overseas became a symbol of the challenges faced by China's private sector following a regulatory crackdown by Beijing that targeted his tech empire and the industry as a whole. 

In 2020, Ma gave a speech that criticized China's regulatory system, which many believed triggered the government's tighter scrutiny of the industry and led to his public retreat. 

Since then, Ma has been seen in various countries, including Japan, Spain, Australia, and Thailand. Despite recent statements from Chinese authorities indicating a softening stance towards the private sector, entrepreneurs and investors viewed Ma's absence as a factor that contributed to a lack of confidence in the business environment. 

As a result, China's new Premier Li Qiang had been urging Ma to return to the mainland since late 2021, with the hope that his return would boost business confidence among entrepreneurs, according to five sources with knowledge of the matter who spoke to Reuters.

China's Premier Li Qiang, a key ally of President Xi Jinping, has been leading the government's push to support the private sector. 

He recently made statements indicating that the business environment for entrepreneurs in the country will improve and that all firms will be treated equally. 

However, many companies remain hesitant due to a perceived lack of new supportive policies and concerns over the regulatory framework brought about by the crackdown. Fraser Howie, a long-time Asia analyst who has written several books on China's financial system, shares this view.