technologies. they thought these guys would steal stuff but they couldn t really innovate. by 2020 china s tech sector had exploded in size and impact, in some areas china s tech was even outpacing the united states. tiktok had taken the world by storm. china s didi beat out uber in china. jam ma s digital system alipay made cash and credit cards in china obsolete. and the parent company of alipay had grown into a financial giant. jack ma was on the one hand an asset to china and also from the communist party s perspective, a huge threat. just days before a group was anticipated to launch on the shanghai stock exchanges. china putting the breaks on the world s biggest ipo. this is a stunning turn of events. suddenly everything came to a screeching halt. what happened based on all reporting president xi jinping
economic potential. tech giants like alibaba show cased china s rise to the leading edge of economic and technological power. and then xi took control in 2012, many expected him to continue to open china s economy, like his predecessor. there was a belief among all of the leaders in the west china would continue to integrate towards a private sector led system. after decades of growth, fueled by china s private sector, xi had inherted the world s second largest economy. but china also faces serious challenges, an aging population, crippling debt and slowing export machine. a big concern for the leadership was how to keep the growth going. so they unleashed the tech sector. at first the companies seemed like copycats. that changed fast. no one out there thought china today would be a parity with the united states in major