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23/11/2020

Draft Anti-Monopoly Rules Of China Are 'Timely And Necessary', Said Alibaba CEO




Draft Anti-Monopoly Rules Of China Are 'Timely And Necessary', Said Alibaba CEO
The new rules that have been drafted by China and aimed at preventing market dominance and monopolistic behaviour of internet platforms and digital companies was described as being "timely and necessary" by the CEO of China’s tech giant Alibaba Group, Daniel Zhang on Monday.
 
The policies of the Chinese government have helped Chinese internet companies to move on to the forefront of the global industry, but it is also important to evolve regulations, said Zhang while speaking at the World Internet Conference.
 
He said that the industry's "development and government supervision is a relationship that promotes and relies on each other, so that platform enterprises cannot only develop well themselves, but also serve the sustainable and healthy development of the whole society".
 
The Cyberspace Administration of China organizes the annual event which took place from November 23 to 24 and is important for the country's internet giants, including Alibaba, Tencent Holdings and Meituan.
 
The companies are increasingly facing government scrutiny.
 
On the direction of Chinese regulators, Alibaba affiliate Ant Group’s planned $37 billion share market listing was suspended earlier this month and it was reported then that regulators wanted to investigate the lucrative online lending business because of the vulnerability irt posed to consumers. 
 
It was also reported at that time by the Wall Street Journal that the decision to prevent the floating of the IPO of Ant was personally taken by China's President Xi Jinping.
 
The public listing of the company would have been the largest ever in the world. The decision of the Chinese regulators to ask the company executives to stop the IPO  was announced a few days after a public attack on the country's financial watchdogs and banks was launched by the fintech giant's billionaire founder Jack Ma. 
 
Chinese regulators were personally ordered by President Xi to probe the activities of the company and to effectively shut down Ant's stock market flotation, said the news report citing Chinese officials with the knowledge of the matter.
 
Under the draft rules published on November 10 by China's market regulator, greater oversight is expected to be faced by Alibaba's e-commerce marketplaces and payment services, according to reports quoting experts and analysts. Chinese regulators have said the draft rules were designed to prevent digital platforms from dominating the market or prevent them from using methods and business practices that designed to block fair competition ion the market.
 
The important event had to be scaled down due to the Covid-19 pandemic and Zhang was among the few bosses of Chinese technology companies who appeared in public at the event. Other chief executives of tech companies such as Qualcomm Inc's Steve Mollenkopf delivered remarks via video.
 
(Source:www.cgtn.com)

Christopher J. Mitchell

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