China’s three colossuses of the Internet: Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu appear to have fallen out of favor with the Chinese government. The idea was to bring the then-freewheeling private sector into the party political system and ensure its goals were fully-aligned with the party. Party committees and cells do not just exist within Chinese companies, but also feature within foreign companies which have established a presence in China. Power has once again been centralized and the party has re-established control over the private sector. It remains to be seen if the hitherto lively entrepreneurial spirit and initiative of China’s private sector can continue to flourish under such tight control, or whether it will be gradually snuffed out.

Source: Taipei Times December 24, 2018 15:56 UTC