Advertisement
China’s Zhejiang province reassures support for Alibaba, led by new chairman Joe Tsai, as company plays pivotal tech development role amid expansion into AI, enterprise market
- Senior Zhejiang officials called on Alibaba to ‘regain momentum, open new chapters and renew glory’, increasing its contribution to the province
- They urged Alibaba’s new leadership to boost investment in frontier tech research and promote innovation in digital technology
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
Alibaba Group Holding’s top management, led by chairman Joe Tsai and chief executive Eddie Wu Yongming, this week met eastern Zhejiang province’s senior officials who reassured support for the e-commerce giant’s latest initiatives amid Beijing’s fresh backing of China’s Big Tech sector.
Advertisement
Zhejiang’s top cadre – including provincial Communist Party Secretary Yi Lianhong and Liu Jie, the party’s chief in Hangzhou – met Tsai, Wu and Alibaba Cloud founder Jiang Wan at a symposium on Tuesday, according to a report on Wednesday by official mouthpiece Zhejiang Daily.
It was their first meeting since Alibaba, owner of the South China Morning Post, named group co-founder Tsai and Wu to take over the company’s leadership, a few months after the company announced the overhaul of its sprawling US$257 billion tech empire.
Alibaba must “regain momentum, open new chapters and renew glory” to make a greater contribution to Zhejiang, Yi told the company’s top management, according to the Zhejiang Daily report. He also said it was Zhejiang’s hope that Alibaba would further deepen its roots in the province to serve China and the world.
Yi, who visited Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou last December after his appointment as Zhejiang’s party chief, said Alibaba must not only set an example in the “platform economy” – referring to the country’s internet sector – but also in terms of charity work and support for the Communist Party’s development, according to the report.
Advertisement
Specifically, Yi called on Alibaba to boost investment in frontier tech research and promote innovation in digital technology.
Advertisement