Zhejiang Province in China Declares "Taking a Leading Role in Antitrust Supervision Targeting Alibaba"

Alibaba's Base Zhejiang Province Pledges Loyalty to Central Party Policies
Zhejiang Market Supervision Authorities Conduct On-Site Antitrust Investigation of Alibaba

[Asia Economy Beijing=Special Correspondent Jo Young-shin] The authorities of Zhejiang Province, where the headquarters of Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Group is located, have decided to strengthen their antitrust policies.

According to Chinese media on the 29th, the Zhejiang Provincial Communist Party Committee held a special meeting the day before, chaired by Secretary Yuan Zajun, to discuss the issues of antitrust and preventing disorderly capital expansion as set by the Party leadership.

After the meeting, the committee stated, "Preventing antitrust and disorderly capital expansion is a major decision of the Party Central Committee and a requirement for completing the socialist market economy system," adding, "It is necessary to realize the healthy development of the internet platform economy."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The committee emphasized, "Zhejiang Province is a region where the internet platform economy, online economy, and fintech are relatively developed," and "In terms of supervision, we must take the lead in finding a path and stand at the forefront."

The Communist Party leadership presented 'antitrust' and 'prevention of disorderly capital expansion' as key national policy agendas through the Politburo meeting and the Central Economic Work Conference held this month. The Zhejiang authorities, who are in charge of supervising Alibaba on the front lines, can be seen as having made a public 'pledge of loyalty' to faithfully implement these policies.

The Zhejiang market supervision authorities also conducted an on-site antitrust investigation related to the issue of 'forced exclusivity' by meeting with Alibaba officials and securing relevant materials on the 24th.

Forced exclusivity refers to Alibaba preventing merchants on its platforms such as Taobao and Tmall from joining competing platforms like JD.com.

Both inside and outside China, it is understood that the Chinese government's strengthening of antitrust policies did not suddenly emerge without warning. However, there is analysis that the provocative government criticism by Alibaba founder Jack Ma at a public forum in late October stimulated the Chinese authorities' determination to 'tame the internet giants.'

Since the failed IPO of Ant Group in early November, Alibaba's market capitalization has decreased by about $200 billion (approximately 220 trillion KRW).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.