I wasn’t sure if this fits into money or ip as it’s both for me. Politically, another example that you have to have the party’s approval to do anything in China. Even jack ma isn’t safe after just one criticism of government regulators that already derailed his IPO.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/24/alibabas-us-traded-shares-fall-amid-reports-of-probe-by-china.html
And perhaps it’s a legitimate claim of a unfair monopoly. But the timing says everything.
China is becoming a Leninist Maoist country again, writing on the wall for half a decade now.
Ma went down over a year ago.
They placed CCP members in control of alibaba a while back .
Ma is aligned with liberal Jiang Shanghai clique, who are being attacked by Xi’s hardliners. They want to take China back to the more capitalist Dengist opening up path and Xi wants to revert to Maoism.
People misinterpret the belt and road as debt trap diplomacy, it’s mostly not. Most of the projects are legitimate, the financing is sound and they benefit both sides. The belt and road is a state project that uses stats resources for state owned companies and benefits mainly the state. Any companies wanting to join the “red supply chain” need to hand over some control to the state.
The private sector in China is being as fucked as foreign companies there. Ma and Alibaba are the poster child’s of the Opening up and Reform era and Jiangist Entrepreneuralism. This era is over