Is Xi's sudden embrace of business for real? China is left guessing

When Xi Jinping, China's leader, made his entrance at a symposium with a group of top entrepreneurs this past week, he seemed to be in good spirits. China has had a few good weeks. Artificial intelligence models by the startup DeepSeek sent U.S. stocks tumbling and Western commentators screaming, "Sputnik moment." Then, an animated film based on Chinese mythology raked in nearly 2 billion. Xi signaled that he stood behind the private sector at the meeting on Monday, pushing the Hong Kong stock market to its highest point in three years.