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Yes—the original report was substantially correct, but its wording is now outdated. DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng attended a private-enterprise symposium chaired by Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on February 17, 2025. Reuters imagery shows Xi shaking hands with Liang.
The meeting was a group event involving prominent Chinese business leaders, not a separately confirmed one-on-one meeting between Xi and Liang.
What the original report said
On February 14, 2025, Bloomberg reported that Chinese authorities had invited prominent entrepreneurs—including Liang Wenfeng—to meet senior Chinese leaders, with Xi Jinping expected to attend. The report cited people familiar with the matter and said the event could take place as soon as the following week.
That was a report about an expected meeting, not a publicly announced presidential appointment with a confirmed agenda. Bloomberg’s wording was cautious, and details about the proposed gathering were limited. Bloomberg’s original report and a contemporaneous TechCrunch summary both framed Liang’s attendance as expected rather than confirmed.
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What happened on February 17, 2025
Three days later, Xi chaired a symposium on private enterprises in Beijing. China’s official Xinhua account confirmed that Xi attended and addressed the event alongside Premier Li Qiang, Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang and other senior officials. Wang Huning presided over the symposium.
Reuters imagery shows Liang among the business leaders and records Xi shaking hands with him. Later reporting also describes Liang as having met Xi in Beijing that month.
The most accurate current description is therefore that Liang met Xi as part of a broader private-sector symposium. The available evidence does not establish that Xi held a private bilateral meeting with Liang, that Liang was summoned to a presidential residence or that the two had a lengthy private conversation.
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Xinhua’s official coverage names representatives from several major Chinese companies, including:
- Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei
- BYD chairman Wang Chuanfu
- New Hope chairman Liu Yonghao
- Will Semiconductor chairman Yu Renrong
- Unitree Robotics founder Wang Xingxing
- Xiaomi founder Lei Jun
Other reporting and visual coverage place Liang among a wider group of leading private-sector figures, including Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma and Tencent chief executive Pony Ma. The lists are not identical, so it is important to distinguish between entrepreneurs officially identified as speakers and people shown or reported as attending.
Xinhua’s published account says Xi spoke after hearing from private-sector representatives, but the cited text does not name Liang as one of those speakers.
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What Xi said about China’s private sector
According to Xinhua’s policy summary, Xi called for the healthy and high-quality development of private enterprises and said they had broad prospects and potential. He urged businesses to remain confident in the future and reaffirmed support for China’s non-public sector.
Xi also called for fairer access to production factors, market competition, financing and legal protections. The official message was directed at China’s private sector generally; it was not a DeepSeek-specific funding, regulatory or commercial announcement.
Why Liang’s presence mattered
DeepSeek had become globally prominent
Liang founded DeepSeek, an artificial-intelligence company associated with quantitative-investment firm High-Flyer. DeepSeek drew worldwide attention in January 2025 after releasing AI models that challenged assumptions about the cost and capabilities of Chinese AI development.
That rapid rise made Liang unusually prominent despite his previously low public profile. His appearance beside leaders of much larger and better-known companies reflected the speed with which advanced AI had become strategically important.
The event signaled reassurance to private businesses
The symposium was widely interpreted as an effort by Beijing to restore confidence among private entrepreneurs after years of regulatory uncertainty, including the crackdown affecting Alibaba and the cancellation of Ant Group’s planned public offering in 2020.
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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesThat interpretation should be treated as political analysis, not proof that regulatory pressure had permanently ended. Xinhua’s later coverage described the gathering in the broader context of bolstering confidence in China’s private sector.
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AI had become a national priority
Including Liang in a high-level gathering of China’s leading private companies signaled the importance Beijing placed on advanced AI, technological competitiveness and the role of private firms in those efforts.
It does not, by itself, prove that Xi personally endorsed DeepSeek, that the company received special treatment or that DeepSeek is state-controlled. Those claims go beyond the evidence.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Timeline
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| January 2025 | DeepSeek’s AI models attract international attention. |
| February 14, 2025 | Bloomberg reports that Liang is expected to attend a meeting with Xi and other senior leaders. |
| February 17, 2025 | Xi attends and addresses a private-enterprise symposium in Beijing; Liang is photographed there and shaking hands with Xi. |
| After February 17, 2025 | Coverage shifts from describing a possible future meeting to describing a completed encounter. |
What the encounter did—and did not—mean
The meeting was significant because it placed a newly prominent AI founder in a public, high-level setting with China’s political leadership and established technology chiefs. It also formed part of a broader message that private companies remained important to China’s economic and technological development.
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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →But the evidence supports a narrower conclusion than some headlines imply:
- It was a group symposium on private enterprises.
- Xi and Liang were photographed together and shaking hands.
- It was not publicly established as a private one-on-one meeting.
- Xi’s speech addressed the private sector broadly, not a specific DeepSeek policy.
- The event signaled recognition and reassurance, but did not prove a permanent policy reversal or guarantee special treatment for DeepSeek.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: The February 2025 report was genuine, but the accurate present-day wording is that Liang Wenfeng did meet Xi Jinping at a wider private-sector symposium in Beijing on February 17, 2025—not that he is merely “reportedly set to meet” Xi.
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