It’s 12 years since Xi Jinping launched his crackdown on graft with a promise to catch “flies” as well as “tigers”. Since then, inspectors have disciplined six million officials. Yet last month the Chinese leader warned corruption was still on the rise and remained the “biggest threat” to the ruling Communist Party.

The Chinese leader enjoys complete domination of party and state. But to maintain stability, he also needs to signal a succession process is in place.

China’s Communist Party has a history of purging then welcoming back senior officials. Deng Xiaoping was purged three times before leading the country out of Maoism in the late 1970s. Some cadres are welcomed back years after their death.

Even before President Xi Jinping met with leading Chinese entrepreneurs on Feb. 17, investors began piling into technology shares, betting that a years-long crackdown on the private sector was at an end.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping met on Monday with executives from the country's major tech companies amid domestic economic headaches and international trade conflicts, state media reported. Present at the meeting were Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma,