The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has aggressively choked financing to non-state entities it views as not aligned with the party’s economic or political goals in its quest to intimidate large-scale businesses and technocrats, media reports claim. According to a report by Financial Post titled “CCP’s Intimidating Tactics Against Technocrats and Big Businesses in China,” the “party-cum-state has begun its long-awaited crackdown on big businesses that refused to endorse the party’s repressive policies.”
According to the report, Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s case demonstrates the CCP’s intimidation through coercion tactics, which has instilled fear in other business owners who have earlier expressed similar concerns.
Notably, according to a Financial Times report, Jack Ma, the founder of the e-commerce company Alibaba, has shifted to Japan, and he is living in Central Tokyo for the last six months.
Jack Ma has reportedly become an enthusiastic collector as several people involved in Japan’s modern art scene said. Ma spends most of his time painting to pass time. Others claim that Ma has been working to expand his business beyond Alibaba and Ant. He has handed over the reins of his e-commerce giant Alibaba and Ant, to new generation leaders.
In 2020, Ma suddenly disappeared from public view after accusing Beijing Chinese regulators of having a “pawnshop mentality.” He even advocated for the introduction of daring new players capable of extending China’s credit to collateral-poor people.
Right after Ma’s criticism of the regulators, Ma’s Ant Group and the e-commerce behemoth Alibaba were hit with a slew of regulatory issues. According to the report, Chinese regulators cancelled Ant’s USD 37 billion initial public offering (IPO) last year and fined Alibaba a record USD 2.8 billion for alleged antitrust violations.
According to the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), under Xi Jinping, “China’s financial regulators have also aggressively choked off financing to non-state entities they as unaligned with CCP’s political and economic goals.” “The CCP leadership also engaged in several targeted measures to enforce political unity and preempt criticism from individuals and groups within the Party-state,” the USCC report read.
According to USCC, “Further inclusion of Leninist political institutions in China’s private firms increases top-down control and drives companies to meet political rather than market objectives.” This approach views the market as a tool for allocating resources toward CCP-determined ends, and it is skeptical of any market activity that goes beyond serving political objectives.
