Mutual admiration society: Facebook's Zuckerberg and Alibaba's Ma

Facebook founderMark Zuckerbergand Alibaba founderJack Mashare alaugh onstageat the China Development Forum in Beijing, March 19, 2016. Reuter.

(THE WALL STREET JOURNAL) Mark Zuckerberg elicited online merriment Friday by posting aphoto of himself jogging in Beijing— cheerfully ignoring both the smog and the fact thatFacebookis blocked in China.

But Facebook’s usually casual founder swapped his running sneakers for a suit and leather shoes Saturday to mingle with China’s power brokers at the annual China Development Forum. Mr. Zuckerberg has gone to great lengths to make friends in China, givingspeeches in Chinese at Tsinghua Universityand posting online about Chinese books he is reading. So far, it hasn’t convinced China’s censors to allow Facebook back in the country.

The three-day conference, hosted by the research division of China’s cabinet, has drawn a range of other VIPs, ranging fromInternational Business MachinesCEOVirginia RomettytoChristine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, according to the speaker list.

Mr. Zuckerberg shared a stage Saturday with Alibaba Group Holding Co. founder Jack Ma to discuss the Internet’s role in the economy. It was an ideal pairing: Silicon Valley’s biggest sinophile and the Chinese entrepreneur who was once an English teacher.

Facebook’s founder opened the session by speaking in Chinese, explaining that he had been paying attention to China’s next five-year economic plan and the country’s biggest annual political event — nearly simultaneous meetings of the legislature and a government advisory body, which ended this past week. The two switched to English for the rest of the conversation.

Both executives complimented the other country’s business culture. Mr. Zuckerberg said he was optimistic about China’s future development because the country focused on science and technology education. Mr. Ma said U.S. entrepreneurs are more attuned to what their competitors are doing globally, as Chinese culture isn’t traditionally so competition-focused.

Mr. Ma also said he respected Mr. Zuckerberg’s efforts to learn Chinese because he liked the culture instead of just to do business there.

Alibaba’s founder recalled his first meeting with Mr. Zuckerberg nineyears ago at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss Alps, during which they briefly chatted and swapped phone numbers.

Who called first?

According to Mr. Ma, it was Mr. Zuckerberg.