“Governments at all levels should strive to create a fair and competitive market environment.”
Beijing:
China sent another strong signal on Wednesday that years of crackdown on its tech industry is over as Premier Li Qiang met with companies such as Alibaba’s cloud unit and Meituan and asked them to do more to support the economy. urged to try.
After listening to suggestions from the companies, which also included PDD Holdings’ Pinduoduo and JD.com, Li told them that authorities would seek to make regulation of platform firms more transparent and predictable.
Shares of some US-listed Chinese companies rose in premarket trade, with Alibaba Group Holdings up 2.2% and PDD Holdings up 2.7%. Other companies named to participate include ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, and cargo service platform Huolala.
The meeting comes after officials indicated last week that a crackdown on the technology sector that began in late 2020 had ended with fines on Ant Group and Tencent.
During the campaign, which wiped $1.1 trillion off the combined market value of the biggest players, regulators repeatedly criticized and fined those companies for violations ranging from failure to protect customer privacy to monopolistic behavior. punished.
But Beijing’s tone has softened since December, with officials stressing the need to revive the broader online platform sector, as the economy recovers at a slower pace than anticipated following the end of COVID restrictions. Happening.
“We hope that most of the enterprises in the forum will move forward with a firm belief in promoting innovation and breakthroughs, better empowering the real economy,” Li said at Wednesday’s meeting, according to state media.
“Governments at all levels should strive to create a fair and competitive market environment and improve policies on investment access,” he added.
However, despite recent signals, some fund managers told Reuters they would continue to steer clear of the sector, citing expectations of tighter regulation in the future and a weakening domestic economy.
Still Zhou Hao, an economist at Guotai Junyan International, said Wednesday’s meeting was a “positive sign”.
“The sound development of the platform economy is also very important for investors. The judicious development of platform firms is important for the long-term valuation of investors,” he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV Staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)