The truth behind Jack Ma’s disappearance and his surprise reappearance as a “hostage of China”

The reappearance of Jack Ma After not being seen for three months, it happened on January 20 a videoconference with 100 teachers rural areas of China. During the presentation, the founder of Alibaba, who was casually dressed in a room without identifying marks, said that “working hard for rural revitalization and prosperity is the responsibility of our entrepreneurial generation”.

Ma’s appearance lasted 48 seconds, during which time a video was shown of him touring an elementary school in his hometown of Hangzhou. And if the event was absolutely routine, it was impossible to ignore the fact that one of the most wanted men on the planet has reappeared to support ideas such as general prosperity, which are at the heart of the Chinese president’s speech. Xi Jinping.

“Looks like the video of a hostage“was one of the comments read on an online forum of analysts working on China, as reproduced by the British newspaper The Guardian.

Beyond the harmlessness of the episode, the truth is that the reappearance of Papa Ma (as it was affectionately called in China) propelled the action of Alibaba, which increased by 8.5%.

Although there has been no official comment, neither from Ma nor from the Chinese government, analysts have interpreted the businessman’s return to public life as a sign that, at least for now, his relationship with Beijing stabilized.

Jack Ma’s last public appearance was a live online event on October 31. It was on this occasion that he declared that “China does not have systemic financial risk simply because has no system, and that’s the risk. ”

He also accused Chinese banks of operating with a “pawnshop mentality” when in reality “good innovation is not afraid of rules, but outdated rules”.

Shortly after its presentation, and within days, the government blocked the listing of its company Ant Group and launched a antitrust investigation against Alibaba.

“Ma’s speech underlined the need to take risks and accept the instability that this generates. This is completely contrary to the philosophy that reigns within the Chinese Communist Party led by Xi Jinping,” he said. stated in an interview with The Guardian analyst George Magnus, member of the China Center at the University of Oxford.

The episode reminded that economic freedom in China can come quickly. with a limit if you enter areas considered politically sensitive. To Jack Ma, nor his fortune of more than 67 billion dollars served to escape derision.

“Honestly, I don’t know what he was thinking when he said that,” said Bill Bishop, author of a China analysis newsletter. “This type of things they are not constructive within the Chinese system, ”he added.

Change of direction

To get an idea of ​​the seriousness of Ma’s “offense”, it suffices to say that many experts agree that it is the Chinese president himself who he ordered his thumb to be lowered.

According to Magnus, who has been tasked with studying and monitoring the evolution of Xi Jinping’s style of government, it’s clear that in recent times the president is increasingly further free market ideas that he once promoted.

According to this vision, its position would be aligned with the promotion of businessmen and economic groups interests aligned with those of the party.

“Jack Ma is one of the most popular people who has suffered retaliation because of this discontent the government has with those who get so big and have a level of power that seems compete with the authority of one’s own partyMagnus explained.

“Politically docile entrepreneurs they will prosper. If they are not, they will be subjected to the type of treatment that Jack Ma has just been subjected to, ”he added.

Speculation about what happened to Ma during the three months she was out of public life spans several scenarios. Some said he left the country, while reports saw him play golf. To date, it is impossible to know whether the 56-year-old businessman is being held somewhere, or even where you are in the world.

For experts, even though their companies, such as Alibaba and Ant Group, are now an integral part of the lives of millions of Chinese, that does not guarantee enough that nothing will happen to them.

The kind of protection that someone of your status would surely have in the West, someone like Bill Gates, for example, in China, becomes more questionable.

Xi spoke of the patriotic businessmen of the last century, who made a lot of money and then did a lot for the country and for the party. Politically lucid businessmen see this as a change of epoch to whom they owe adapt“Bishop is done.

Clarín editorial staff