Recently, the Communist Party’s market regulator has stepped up its crackdown on Internet platform companies, with Jack Ma by far the biggest target. Foreign media reports suggest it is too early to declare Ma defeated, as top Communist Party leader Xi Jinping has asked private companies to be “loyal to the party” and under its broad control, but needs them to help sustain the economy.
The New York Times reported on April 22 that Jack Ma, China’s most prominent businessman, is trying to keep a low profile, avoiding the media spotlight and making few public appearances.
Last week, Ma attended a virtual board meeting of the Russian Geographical Society, where he was seen on screen with one hand on his head and a bored expression while Russian President Vladimir Putin and others discussed Arctic affairs and leopard conservation.
Xi Jinping, the Communist Party’s top leader, is punishing and shaming China’s wealthy by insisting on broader control over the country’s private sector, demanding that they stay loyal to the party and put social stability ahead of profits, the report said.
China’s private sector tycoons have amassed enormous wealth and social influence and have been found to have overstepped their bounds. Xiao Jianhua, head of the financial empire “Tomorrow System,” was taken away from a luxury hotel in Hong Kong in 2017; oil tycoon Ye Jianming was taken away on Feb. 16, 2018, and according to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, the order to investigate him came directly from Xi Jinping, the Communist Party’s general secretary; and Wu Xiao, who bought the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in Manhattan, was arrested on Feb. 16, 2018. Wu Xiaohui, who acquired the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, was also arrested and sentenced.
Richard McGregor, a senior fellow at the Lowy Institute and author of The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers, said that for the CCP The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers
As Alibaba has grown, Ma has begun to receive overtures from foreign dignitaries and movie stars, and has been welcomed by more Chinese entrepreneurs, the report said.
Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA China, said this may have distorted Ma’s views about himself and his stance on the government, which he otherwise would have foreseen as ominous, especially as Xi Jinping pushes “the state into the people” and calls for closer cooperation between private companies and the government. He should otherwise have a sense of foreboding, especially at a time when Xi is pushing for closer cooperation between private companies and the government.
When Ma stepped down as chairman of Alibaba in 2019, a commentary in an official Communist Party newspaper declared, “There is no such thing as the era of Ma, only the Ma of the times.”
The report said that Beijing authorities’ repression of Internet platform companies has expanded from Ma to more private sector executives.
Hu Xiaoming, chief executive of Ant Group, resigned in March; Huang Zheng resigned as chairman of Jindo a few days later.
Tencent founder Ma Huateng suggested at the Communist Party’s two sessions in March that stricter regulations be imposed on Internet companies.
Gordon Orr, a non-executive director of Chinese restaurant delivery giant Meituan, said, “These new regulations will require Internet platforms to consider their future approach to innovation, which could result in a lower level of innovation.”
The report said Chinese Communist Party leaders need the private sector to help sustain economic growth, but they don’t want entrepreneurs to shake up the Communist Party’s dominance in society at large, meaning it’s too early to declare Ma defeated.
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