A paragraph titled “If you don’t let Jack Ma and Ma Huateng monopolize, China’s economy won’t work”, which comes from the past comments of scholar Zhang Wuchang, has become popular in China in the past few days.
The Chinese Communist Party’s tightening of control over Jack Ma and a host of private companies has sparked concern in the business community and social discussion, as well as a backlash on the Internet. A paragraph titled “If you don’t let Jack Ma and Ma Huateng have a monopoly, China’s economy won’t work,” which came from a past comment by scholar Zhang Wuchang, has been trending in China for the past few days, but was quickly blocked by mainland Internet regulators.
The Chinese Communist authorities have recently released intensive signals on “anti-monopoly”, and the Politburo meeting held on December 11 set “anti-monopoly” as a priority for 2021. Then, at the Central Economic Work Conference held from December 16 to 18, one of the “eight major tasks” for next year was anti-monopoly and disorderly expansion of capital.
On the 18th and 19th, the Development and Reform Commission of the Communist Party of China held a working meeting to draw up key tasks for 2021, and proposed to implement the “Three-Year Action Plan for the Reform of State-Owned Enterprises” starting next year. On December 21, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress announced that the “anti-monopoly law” will be revised in 2021.
Before that, an article titled “If you don’t let Ma and Ma Huateng monopolize, China’s economy won’t work” became popular on the Internet, and it was found that this comment came from Zhang Wuchang, an economist.
In September 2018, Zhang Wuchang was invited by the State Administration of Market Supervision and Administration to deliver a speech in Guangzhou, mentioning that “everyone wants to be a monopolist. Read to compete with you, how do you not want to monopolize? Bonus I want to not let you take. The market is the same. But when it comes to fair competition, how can it be fair? How can it be fair when I beat you nine times out of ten in exams? Fair competition is to say that the rules of the game to be fair, win or lose, ability itself is not fair.”
Zhang Wuchang also said, “Look at Ma Yun, Ma Huateng, are monopolists, you do not let them monopolize, the economy can not get up.”
These remarks, which have been making the rounds on the Internet, are seen as a response to Xi Jinping‘s recent blocking of Ant Group’s IPO plans and his wielding of the “anti-monopoly law” to further regulate private companies.
On November 2, Jack Ma was suddenly interviewed by four major regulators: the Communist Party’s Central Bank, the CBRC, the SFC and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. Then Alibaba Holdings, which Ma actually controls, was suddenly called off on the eve of its scheduled listing in Shanghai and Hong Kong on Nov. 5.
According to the Wall Street Journal, which cited Chinese Communist Party insiders, the suspension of Ant Group’s listing was a personal order from Xi Jinping. Xi Jinping has become increasingly intolerant of large private companies with growing capital and influence, which are seen as a threat to Xi’s dominance.
After Ant Group was called off, Beijing has increased its efforts to control China’s large tech giants. Not only have all of the online network deposit products on Ant’s platform been taken offline, but a number of companies such as Baidu Du Xiaoman, Jingdong Finance and Tencent Wealth Management have also taken down all or some of their network deposit products.
A senior media figure pointed out that Ant Group’s network financial products, which grabbed a big piece of meat from the Chinese Communist Party’s banking system, have long displeased the central bank and other departments. This time, Ma Yun has hit the gun, and the authorities are taking the opportunity to regain hegemony in the financial market.
It has also recently been rumored that the central government has sent a joint investigation team to Alibaba Group, and the bidding plan for the Yunnan branch of Lakeside University, which Ma is planning to build, has been called off.
According to Zhang Zhu, a finance scholar at Kunming University, Ma is just a white glove and a proxy holder for the Chinese Communist Party’s assets, and it would take minutes to take back his power and wealth. Given the current development of China’s political situation, Ma’s situation will become worse and worse. Jack Ma’s next step may be more troublesome.
In addition, because Alibaba Group has a deep Jiang political background, Jiang Zhicheng’s Boyu Investment, Liu Lefei’s CITIC Capital, and several princelings have invested. Ma’s case is therefore considered to be tainted by the power struggle in Zhongnanhai.
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