Following Ma’s criticism of the Chinese regulatory system last year, Beijing came down heavily on the company, leading to the shelving of financial affiliate Ant Group’s US$37 billion initial public offering.

Ma has been largely out of public view since.

“The idea that Jack has this enormous amount of power, I think that’s not quite right,” Tsai said. “He is just like you and me, he’s a normal individual.”

Alibaba was also fined US$2.8 billion in April for anti-competitive business practices.

In response to a question about antitrust regulation, Tsai told CNBC “we have got that behind us”. He added that the company’s financial business was under restructuring.

Asked about human rights issues in China, Tsai said a large number of people in the country were happy that their lives are improving.