Trade Should be Propeller of Peace: Alibaba chairman Jack Ma

Hangzhou: Alibaba chairman Jack Ma said efforts should be made to promote the healthy development of China-US trade even though it is hard to fulfill his previous promise of creating 1 million jobs for the United States under current circumstances. In an exclusive interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, Ma said his promise was based on friendly cooperation between China and the United States and a rational growth of China-US trade. “However, the previous basis for trade has been undermined,” he said. “But we will continue to work hard to promote the healthy development of China-US trade.”

Trade is not a weapon and cannot be used for wars, he added. “Trade should be the propeller of peace.” Alibaba has always worked toward the goal of “making doing business easy and fun.” Against the backdrop of rising trade protectionism and anti-globalization, Ma said the goal has become even more relevant. He said the younger generation and new leadership in Alibaba will go straight ahead toward the goal, even after he steps down. “Good entrepreneurs and companies all have their times of difficulties, and the best companies are often born in difficult times or have gone through such times,” Ma said.

“There are still many things that Chinese companies should and can do. They still have many opportunities despite the trade frictions between China and the US,” Ma said. Ma also stayed confident about the company’s future after announcing his plan of stepping down. Ma said he and Zhang will work together on the internalization and cultural development of the company as well as the cooperation between Alibaba and Ant Financial during the last year of him being chairman of the board. Ma will still be a board member until the annual shareholders meeting in 2020. (IANS)