On June 10, 2025, as trade negotiators from the United States and China gathered in London for another round of contentious talks, a different kind of negotiation played out on the front page of The People’s Daily, China’s most prominent state-run newspaper. The paper featured an extensive interview with Ren Zhengfei, the founder of Huawei, an unprecedented move for a private entrepreneur. Historically, such editorial prominence has been reserved exclusively for senior Communist Party officials, making this a calculated and deliberate political statement. Observers quickly recognized this as a message likely orchestrated by China’s top leader, Xi Jinping. The headline, “The More Open a Country Is, the More It Drives Us to Progress”, was not just a business slogan but a clear signal of China’s shifting strategy on technology, private enterprise, and its rivalry with the United States.

For much of the last decade, China’s private tech sector has operated under an atmosphere of heightened scrutiny and uncertainty. A sweeping regulatory crackdown beginning in 2021 targeted major players like Alibaba, Tencent, and Didi, sending shockwaves through the business world. Entrepreneurs like Jack Ma, once symbols of Chinese innovation, disappeared from the public eye. Venture capital dried up, risk-taking diminished, and the message from Beijing was clear: private enterprises could exist, but only within the Party’s strict boundaries.

However, the global landscape has evolved dramatically since then. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in global supply chains, while the rapid rise of generative AI reshaped technological priorities worldwide. Simultaneously, the United States tightened export controls, blacklisting Chinese companies and restricting access to advanced semiconductors. In response, China is recalibrating its approach to technology and innovation. Ren’s interview reflects this pivot: while........

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