Beijing is threatening a “merciless” fight against corruption in the technology sector, the message reads Friday in a warning addressed to major tech players such as e-commerce giant Alibaba.
During a meeting the day before, the Disciplinary Inspection Committee within the Chinese Communist Party, an internal control body, promised to put more emphasis on the fight against corrupt officials. President Xi Jinping and other senior government officials attended the meeting. A communication followed through the official channels afterwards: “There will be no mercy for those who lead or are members of factions, cliques or interest groups within the party.”
The communication is mainly aimed at the large companies within the Chinese tech sector. “Efforts will be redoubled to investigate and sanction any fact of corruption related to the rampant expansion of capital and platform monopolies.” Its aim is to “sever the ties between power and capital and strengthen financial discipline”.
Documentaries
The warning coincides with the start of a series of documentaries on state channel CCTV about the fight against corruption. Alibaba’s share plunged nearly 6 percent on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Friday during trading, landing at a loss of 3.35 percent.
The Chinese tech sector has been under scrutiny since the end of 2020. The sharpened focus started after Alibaba CEO Jack Ma criticized the financial regulators. Subsequently, the IPO of subsidiary Ant Group was stopped. Alibaba itself was fined 2.3 billion euros for abuse of its dominant market position.
Since Xi came to power in 2012, more than one and a half million Communist Party cadres have been sanctioned for corruption charges.
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