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Jack Ma, co-founder of China's most valuable society, was officially confirmed as a member of the Communist Party in a state-supported newspaper recognizing business leaders for their contribution to the country's development.
Ma, co-founder and chairman of the e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., is one of 100 personalities that the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party will honor as part of a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the reform and the Economic opening of the country. Other winners include Tencent Holdings Ltd. Managing Director, Pony Ma, Baidu Inc. Executive Director Robin Li, basketball star Yao Ming and volleyball coach Lang Ping.
The boundaries between business and politics have become increasingly blurred in China, with President Xi Jinping leading a campaign to ensure that the Communist Party plays a leading role in all aspects of society. This has sometimes created tensions when the interests of private entrepreneurs and the state have been conflicting.
"We are seeing an increasingly close relationship between China's leading Internet companies and the Chinese government, as the government sees them as one of the most effective ways to deliver on its policy initiatives," said Mark Natkin, chief executive of Marbridge Consulting, based in Beijing. "Being a party member is fundamentally silencing the legitimacy of the party and that does not necessarily mean a particularly high level of political activity."
Under Deng Xiaoping's leadership, China began launching economic reforms in 1978 that moved away from traditional communist doctrine and allowed the creation of private enterprises. This eventually led to robust growth that turned the country into the world's second largest economy, behind the United States.
According to the newspaper People's Daily, the list of 100 celebrities to celebrate on the occasion of the 40th anniversary will be made public for examination until November 30th. Beyond the business leaders and sports stars, the list includes scientists, astronauts and artists.
Ma is the richest man in China with a net worth of $ 38.4 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index. Ma announced in September that he planned to entrust the role of executive chairman to general manager Daniel Zhang next year.
Alibaba, which dominates e-commerce in China and expanded into a wide range of additional activities, was released in 2014 during the largest initial public offering ever in New York. At the time, Ma had said that investors would be the company's third priority after customers and employees. Despite a decline in its share price this year, Alibaba is valued at more than $ 400 billion and ranks among the top 10 most profitable companies in the world.
Ma has been a staunch supporter of President Xi's politics in recent years. In 2016, he proposed that the country's highest security office use Big Data to prevent crime, supporting China's efforts to implement unprecedented online surveillance of its billions of people.
After Xi said last year that fighting inequality was becoming as important as boosting economic growth, Ma was one of the first to respond. He told a public publication that entrepreneurs who got money have the responsibility to help others catch up.
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