Business | Alibaba and the 40 officials

Can Chinese big tech learn to love Big Brother?

The government’s crackdown eases, but the damage has been done

|SHANGHAI

JACK MA, CHINA’S most famous entrepreneur, has not been one to mince his words about the role of government and business. At a meeting with corporate leaders in Bali in 2018 he told the audience that it is not the government that makes business and innovation happen. That is the work of entrepreneurs, he insisted: “They have the ideas and dreams.”

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Alibaba and the 40 officials”

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