Xi Jinping says Big Tech crackdown is making progress, calls for Communist Party to ‘guide’ companies
- Xi says antitrust campaign against internet platforms has seen early results and called for the Party to do more to supervise businesses
- Beijing’s crackdown has led to a market rout this year that has wiped US$1 trillion off Chinese tech stocks
Beijing’s campaign to “prevent the irrational expansion of capital” and address “barbarous growth” in China’s technology sector is beginning to bear fruit in the wake of an accelerated antitrust campaign targeting internet platforms, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at a central leadership meeting on Monday afternoon.
Xi also warned that the Communist Party must do more to “guide and supervise” the country’s businesses with clear rules, effective regulations and greater policy transparency.
Pain of China’s Big Tech crackdown a necessary short-term cost: state media
According to the meeting notes released last December, “preventing the disorderly expansion of capital” involves better regulations and standards for identifying monopolistic companies, governing the collection and use of data, and protecting consumer rights.
Beijing has repeatedly attempted to soothe investors’ nerves with talk of commitment to healthy, long-term economic growth, but the crackdown still has no end in sight.
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With myriad new rules and enforcement mechanisms, the Communist Party has brought to heel a once freewheeling tech sector. At the meeting, Xi said the government should “guide companies to obey the Party’s leadership” and serve the “big picture” development of China’s economy and society.