China’s internet policies need to evolve to help industry, says Alibaba CEO
He also said China’s move to draft rules aimed at preventing monopolistic behaviour by internet platforms is ‘timely and necessary’.
FollowWuzhen (China): Chinese internet companies have moved to the forefront of the industry with the help of government policies, but regulations need to evolve with the times to help the industry manage problems and its development, Alibaba Group’s CEO said.
Daniel Zhang made the comments at the World Internet Conference on Monday.
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,” he said.
He also said China’s move to draft rules aimed at preventing monopolistic behaviour by internet platforms is ‘timely and necessary’.
The annual event from November 23-24 organised by the Cyberspace Administration of China takes place as the country’s internet giants including Alibaba, Tencent Holdings and Meituan face increasing government scrutiny.
Alibaba’s e-commerce marketplaces and payment services are also expected to face greater oversight under the draft rules published on November 10 by China’s market regulator, which said it wanted to prevent platforms from dominating the market or from adopting methods aimed at blocking fair competition.
Zhang is one of the few Chinese technology chiefs to appear publicly at the event after it was scaled down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Other chief executives such as Qualcomm Inc’s Steve Mollenkopf delivered remarks via video.
