I am not sure the West even needed to influence these people in the slightest when China has actively sought out western ideas since economic relations began an

I am not sure the West even needed to influence these people in the slightest when China has actively sought out western ideas since economic relations began anew back in the late 90s. If these people all saw a generation of success due to blending of profitable ideas, why wouldn’t they “turn west”, so to speak? But you are right, Ma did alert people in China(and the outer world) with how casually unaligned to the party his speech was.