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Feb 17 (Reuters) - China's President Xi Jinping spoke on

Monday at a symposium on private enterprises attended by tech

entrepreneurs including Alibaba ( BABA ) co-founder Jack Ma,

state media said, but gave no specific details.

Last week Reuters reported the symposium aims to boost

private-sector sentiment, with Xi expected to encourage

executives to expand their businesses despite a deepening

China-U.S. tech war.

Here are comments about the meeting:

CHARLIE CHAI, A SHANGHAI-BASED ANALYST AT 86RESEARCH:

"We believe the event will likely be followed by concrete

pro-technology policies. Potential moves include shifting focus

from 'national security risks and social externalities' to a

more risk-taking approach to technology application.

"(This would) include potentially accelerating the mass

deployment of generative AI, autonomous driving, and humanoid

robotics.

"Similarly, securities regulators are likely to adopt a more

accommodative stance, allowing technology companies greater

access to capital markets to finance growth, which could help

resolve uncertainties around listing and re-listing timelines

(e.g., Didi, Ant, Temu)."

ALFREDO MONTUFAR-HELU, HEAD OF THINK TANK THE CONFERENCE

BOARD'S CHINA CENTER:

"That President Xi chaired this symposium signals a

recognition from China's top party leadership of the significant

role that Chinese private firms can play in the support of

growth, and, more importantly, in realising the technological

ambitions of China in the face of growing Western restrictions."

"We should expect more support to the private sector,

especially in areas of strategic importance for the country.

"Despite their flaws, DeepSeek now, and Huawei's Kirin chip

before, send a strong message to the West: that China not only

has the intention but also resources and capacity to innovate

its way out of technology restrictions, no matter how costly."

FRED HU, FOUNDER & CHAIRMAN, PRIMAVERA CAPITAL GROUP, HONG

KONG:

"President Xi's meeting with Chinese private entrepreneurs

clearly represents a major course correction.

"The private sector, long the backbone of the Chinese

economy and the most important growth engine, has been battered

in recent years by mounting policy and regulatory uncertainties,

with dire consequences to China's economy, and worse, to its

labour market with rising youth unemployment.

"The leadership's well-publicised meeting with some of the

country's most high-profile entrepreneurs, such as Jack Ma,

could not come at a more critical juncture.

"It should help reassure rattled entrepreneurs and lift up

business and investor confidence in China."

TOM NUNLIST, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR AT POLICY RESEARCH

CONSULTANCY TRIVIUM CHINA:

"The tech crackdown has been definitively over for some time

and the government has been trying to push increased confidence

for the private sector, and tech sector, in particular.

"There's been some continued scepticism because at the end

of the day it's Xi Jinping's opinion that matters most. You

cannot do better than having Xi Jinping personally give the nod

of approval.

"I think it took so long to have this meeting because Xi is

changing course."

XIAOYAN ZHANG, CHAIR PROFESSOR OF FINANCE, TSINGHUA

UNIVERSITY, BEIJING:

"I think the meeting's purpose is to make sure that the

private sector understands, for the stability and for the growth

of the economy, they are a very important part of the economy.

"I think the purpose is to tell them, 'We want to support

you. We need you to boost innovation, technological innovation,

and we need you to boost consumption.' I think (the purpose is)

to inject confidence in there."

GARY NG, SENIOR ECONOMIST FOR NATIXIS, HONG KONG:

"Despite the rising opportunities in the case of DeepSeek,

it is also about guiding the private sector in the

government-led direction and containing the potential risks to

compete with the United States.

"The market reads it as a positive signal to include Jack Ma

in such a meeting and hope for the end of the tech crackdown.

Still, the regulatory environment is the black box.

"As most AI development happens in the private sector, we

cannot entirely rule out the outcome of a

tighter-than-market-expected regulatory environment than we see

now."

CHRISTOPHER BEDDOR, DEPUTY CHINA RESEARCH DIRECTOR, GAVEKAL

DRAGONOMICS, HONG KONG:

"I think it's a tacit acknowledgement that the Chinese

government needs private-sector firms for its tech rivalry with

the United States.

"Policymakers would probably prefer if industrial-policy

planning and state-owned enterprises were able to make

innovative breakthroughs at the technological frontier.

"But the disruptive innovations are coming from

private-sector companies. The government has no choice but to

support them if it wants to compete with the United States.

"His (Jack Ma's) presence would be hugely symbolic of how

the government's stance towards the tech sector has changed. If

there's one person associated with the tech crackdown, it's Jack

Ma.

"As for the signal - we've seen Xi run this playbook before.

He clearly wants to send a message that the government is now

supportive of the tech sector.

"It's more or less a total reversal of the policy stance

from a few years ago."