The last time Jack Ma appeared in public was September 2020, when he gave a speech in Shanghai. At that time, Jack Ma boldly criticized China's financial and banking systems, and considered regulators to be hindering growth.
Since then he seemed to have disappeared, never speaking in public again until today or more than 2 years later. The Chinese government, it is said, on direct orders from Xi Jinping, strictly limited his space for movement even though Jack Ma was physically free.
Jack Ma finally hit the rock after his speech. "Because Jack Ma is too provocative, not in line with the new approach of the Xi Jinping government, he is of course a natural target that major changes have already begun," said Duncan Clark, a former adviser to Jack Ma some time ago.
There are also those who think that the technology frontman is too popular, even President Xi Jinping loses. "Xi Jinping dominates the headlines about China's success, his name and face but has been replaced in recent years by technology superstars, especially Jack Ma," said the Daily Mail.
Certainly, as we quoted from Nikkei, President Xi Jinping's leadership has tightened control on tech giants and the rich in the name of 'shared prosperity' and bridging inequality. As a wealthy tech entrepreneur, Ma has lost his place in China.
Today's Jack Ma is different from before. He doesn't seem to have taken care of his company as intensively, in fact his control of the Ant Group was lost recently. Previously, Alibaba was also subject to large fines by the Chinese government for monopoly practices.
Ma became a big businessman thanks in large part to Jiang Zemin, the former president of China who recently died. Private entrepreneurs like Ma were once considered 'capitalists' and were not allowed to join the Communist Party. It was changed by Jiang.
Jiang's move marked the beginning of the neoliberal period, shrinking state-owned businesses and taking full advantage of market power. Now, China is making a sharp turn with Xi Jinping giving significant power to state-owned companies and tightening the grip of the Communist Party in all sectors of the economy.
Jack Ma was also one of those who was greatly affected. He probably won't be speaking much in public again for a very long time to come.