The resurgence of China’s richest tech billionaire might seem like a positive signal of a more permissive market environment. But it’s worth remembering that Beijing remains the ultimate authority to regulate and mobilise market resources.
Tag: jack ma
China’s richest man, Zhong Shanshan, has been pursued for weeks by an online nationalist campaign claiming he is not patriotic enough. Official tolerance questions this ideological hardening, at a time of economic slowdown, strong international tensions and built-in contradictions of China’s statists-capitalistic economy.
A movie star, a tennis player, a tech billionaire — and now the Foreign Minister: the Chinese Party’s parallel justice system does not discriminate when it comes to hushing down figures deemed “subversive.”
For a number of weeks now, Beijing has been trying to regain control of its internet heroes, who are considered too dominant. E-commerce giants and their standard-bearer, Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma, are directly in the line of fire.