On 23 September 2019 Yahoo News On-line reported the following:
China Boosts Government Presence at Alibaba and other Private
Giants
Bloomberg Lulu Yilun Chen,Bloomberg 9 hours ago
(Bloomberg) -- The government of one of China’s top
technology hubs is dispatching officials to 100 local corporations including
e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the latest effort to exert greater
influence over the country’s massive private sector.
Hangzhou, in the eastern province of Zhejiang, is assigning
government affairs representatives to facilitate communication and expedite
projects, the city government said on its website. Chinese beverage giant
Hangzhou Wahaha Group Co. and automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co. are
among the other companies based in the prosperous region that have been singled
out, according to reports in state media.
The Hangzhou government said the initiative was aimed at
smoothing work flow between officials and China’s high-tech companies and
manufacturers. But the move could be perceived also as an effort to keep tabs
on a non state-owned sector that’s gaining clout as a prime driver of the
world’s No. 2 economy. Representatives of the country’s public security system
are already embedded within China’s largest internet companies, responsible for
crime prevention and stamping out false rumors.
Government agencies may also be heightening their monitoring
of the vast private sector at a time China’s economy is decelerating -- raising
the prospect of destabilizing job cuts as enterprises try to protect bottom
lines. Alibaba is hosting its annual investors’ conference this week in
Hangzhou against the backdrop of a worsening outlook for the country.
“They
might be checking whether the Communist party units are working effectively within
the companies,” said Paul Gillis, a professor at Peking University’s Guanghua
School of Management. “While China legitimized capitalism, the level of
government influence was never intended to disappear. Occasionally private
entrepreneurs forget about this and are reminded of it.”
Zhejiang is considered the cradle of modern Chinese private
enterprise, home to a generation of self-made billionaires from Alibaba’s Jack
Ma and Geely founder Li Shufu to Wahaha’s Zong Qinghou. The Communist Party
accepted so-called “red capitalists” or private entrepreneurs into the Party in
2001, allowing them to become part of the country’s legislature a year later.
Still, the relationship between
Beijing and well-known business people remains sensitive. The government has
been seen to try and step up an official presence within non-state firms, by
among other things mandating that private companies of scale set up and
maintain a Party branch. It wasn’t clear whether the 100 Zhejiang-based
companies included foreign enterprises.
“We
understand this initiative from the Hangzhou city government aims to foster a
better business environment in support of Hangzhou-based enterprises. The
government representative will function as a bridge to the private sector, and
will not interfere with the company’s operations,” Alibaba said in a text
statement. Representatives for Wahaha and Geely didn’t immediately respond to
requests for comment.
The Hangzhou initiative also underscores how the government
is trying to arrest a slowdown in the economy brought on by the trade war, said
Brock Silvers, managing director of Kaiyuan Capital. He expects similar
policies to soon follow for other manufacturing-intensive areas.
“The economic slowdown and trade war are having a
significant impact on China’s manufacturing base, and officials probably don’t
see a quick resolution on the horizon,” Silvers said. “As the government
expects manufacturers to experience near-term difficulties, it wants to exert a
firm control over local policy decisions and implementation.”
Translation
（彭博社）- 在最大技術中心之一,
中國政府正派遣官員到包括電子商務巨頭阿里巴巴集團控股有限公司在內的100家當地公司，這是中國對龐大的私營部門施加更大影響力的最新舉措。
杭州市政府在其網站上說，位於浙江省東部的杭州市正在指派政府事務代表，以促進溝通和加快項目建設。據官方媒體報導，中國飲料業巨頭杭州娃哈哈集團有限公司和汽車製造商浙江吉利控股集團有限公司是位於繁榮地區中的公司。
杭州市政府表示，該舉措旨在使官員與中國高科技公司和製造商之間的工作流程更加順暢。但是，但此舉也可能被視為試圖监控非國有部門，而非國有部門作為全球第二大經濟體的主要驅動力，正在獲得影響力。中國公共安全系統的代表已經紮根於中國最大的互聯網公司中，負責預防犯罪和杜絕虛假謠言。
在中國經濟減速之際，政府機構也可能會加強對龐大的私營部門的監控 - 隨著企業試圖保護本身底線，裁員動蕩的可能性增加了。在阿里巴巴的前景惡化的背景下，阿里巴巴將於本週在杭州舉行年度投資者會議。
北京大學光華管理學院教授保羅·吉利斯說：“他們可能正在檢查共產黨單位在公司內部運作是否有效。” “儘管中國使資本主義合法化，但政府的影響力從没有消失的意图。有時，私人企業家會忘記這一點，因此需要對此有所提醒。”
浙江被認為是現代中國民營企業的搖籃，這裡有阿里巴巴的馬雲和吉利創始人李書福,
到娃哈哈的宗慶後等一代白手起家的億萬富翁。共產黨在2001年接受所謂的 “紅色資本家” 或称为私人企業家加入該黨，並在一年後允許他們成為該國立法機關的一員。
不過，北京與知名商人之間的關係仍然很敏感。人們已經看到政府試圖通過授權,
在大型私人公司成立和維持黨支部等措施，加強官方在非國有公司中地位。。目前尚不清楚這100家浙江公司是否包括外國企業。
阿里巴巴在一份文本聲明中說“我們了解到杭州市政府的這一舉措旨在營造更好的商業環境，以支持杭州企業。政府代表將充當通往私營部門的橋樑，並且不會干擾公司的運營。”娃哈哈和吉利的代表沒有立即回應置評請求。
開元資本董事總經理布羅克·西爾弗斯（Brock
Silvers）表示，杭州倡議還強調了政府如何努力遏制貿易戰帶來的經濟放緩。他預計在其他密集型製造業地區也將很快有類似的政策。
西爾弗斯說：“經濟放緩和貿易戰對中國的製造業基礎產生了重大影響，官員們可能不會看到一個快速解決方案。”
“由於政府预期製造商在短期內會遇到困難，因此它希望嚴格控制當地的政策决定和實施。”
I hope this new move by
the Chinese government would not made the private companies worry about their survival.
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