‘Health issues’ said to force Tencent’s Pony Ma to miss China’s top legislative meeting

The Tencent founder is expected to submit in absentia a range of proposals to the National People’s Congress. Those include suggestions involving the industrial Internet, financial technology and medical services. — SCMP

Pony Ma Huateng, the billionaire founder of internet giant Tencent Holdings, is not expected to attend China’s annual parliamentary meeting, the National People’s Congress (NPC), owing to an undisclosed health condition, according to local media.

Ma, 48, who has been an NPC delegate since 2013, will miss this year’s event because of “health issues”, according to a report on Monday by Guangzhou-based newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily.