As the second richest person in China, he's in a position to know the minds and influence the opinions of party leadership. I absolutely do not take his statement with a grain of salt. I take it as a threat.
Lol, did you even read the article? He used it during your typical anodyne corporate speech at some event in Australia. This sentiment is as old as trade itself - "If goods don't cross borders, armies do." Ma was speaking to the unifying power of globalization and trade, not some ultimatum he was giving the Trump administration.
My careful reading of the situation tells me that Jack Ma was speaking a message of peace because it is in his current economic interest. The other side of the quote is that war is also an economic interest. I find it troubling that the Chinese power-elite are thinking and talking in these terms.[1]
