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

delivered a speech at a symposium on private enterprises

attended by tech entrepreneurs including Alibaba ( BABA )

co-founder Jack Ma, official media reported on Monday.

There were no specific details about the symposium.

Reuters reported last week that the symposium is aimed at

boosting private-sector sentiment, and Xi was expected to

encourage executives to expand their businesses domestically and

internationally amid a deepening China-U.S. technology war.

Here's what people are saying about the meeting:

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 U.S.

"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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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, and in turn instill confidence

among tech entrepreneurs. It's more or less a total reversal of

the policy stance from a few years ago, when officials vowed to

curb the "disorderly" expansion of capital.

"But we know that Xi is concerned about the tech sector,

based on his striking public remark last year about the

declining number of unicorns."

ALFREDO MONTUFAR-HELU, HEAD OF THINK TANK THE CONFERENCE

BOARD'S CHINA CENTER:

"After DeepSeek, Beijing is showing it understands that

innovation and growth from the private sector, especially tech

companies, is the best way forward for economic growth."