China’s vice-premier Liu He privately met a group of top corporate executives in Davos to tell them that the world’s second-largest economy is back, in an effort to rekindle economic ties damaged by the pandemic and tensions with the US.

Executives at the lunch said Liu’s message had fuelled renewed optimism about the prospects for the Chinese economy, which has been battered by Beijing’s recently abandoned “zero-Covid” policy, a property slump and a regulatory crackdown on the tech sector.

But analysts cautioned it was unclear whether Beijing would follow through on the picture of openness and reform offered by Liu, who is China’s top economic official but is expected to leave the government this year.