Xi Jinping’s assault on tech will change

China’s trajectory
It is likely to prove self-defeating

Of all china’s achievements in the past two decades, one of the most impressive is the rise of its
technology industry. Alibaba hosts twice as much e-commerce activity as Amazon does.
Tencent runs the world’s most popular super-app, with 1.2bn users. China’s tech revolution
has also helped transform its long-run economic prospects at home, by allowing it to leap
beyond manufacturing into new fields such as digital health care and artificial intelligence
(ai). As well as propelling China’s prosperity, a dazzling tech industry could also be the
foundation for a challenge to American supremacy.

That is why President Xi Jinping’s assault on his country’s $4trn tech industry is so startling.
There have been over 50 regulatory actions against scores of firms for a dizzying array of
alleged offences, from antitrust abuses to data violations.

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2021/08/14/xi-jinpings-assault-on-tech-will-change-
chinas-trajectory