Premier Li Keqiang offers reassurance for world's biggest internet firms
Premier Li Keqiang sought yesterday to reassure some of the world's biggest internet companies that the mainland would embrace market competition and a level playing field to foster its internet sector.
Premier Li Keqiang sought yesterday to reassure some of the world's biggest internet companies that the mainland would embrace market competition and a level playing field to foster its internet sector, but he also stressed the need to regulate the web.
In a meeting with more than 70 heads of domestic and international internet firms at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, Li said China was willing to work with offshore partners on the basis of mutual openness and respect, state media reported.
"We are embracing the internet and developing the sector along market lines so that market entry can be autonomous, the mechanism be market-based and companies can compete fairly," he said.
The event, which ends today, is organised by China's newly formed Cyberspace Administration and has attracted policymakers and top industry executives, including the chief executives of tech firms Alibaba, Tencent and Baidu.
Among foreign companies attending the conference were executives from Apple, Facebook, LinkedIn, IBM, Microsoft, Qualcomm, SoftBank, Cisco Systems, Amazon and Nokia.
It comes as more overseas internet and technology companies look to China but are wary of restrictions and censorship.
Qualcomm is one offshore company that has had problems in China. The National Development and Reform Commission is investigating the US chipmaker's local subsidiary on suspicion of overcharging and abusing its market position in wireless communication standards.
Li said there were still opportunities for Qualcomm but the internet had to be regulated by the rule of law.
Doug Young, a Shanghai-based technology industry observer, said Western companies did not want to miss out on the potential in China's 1.3 billion people and the 632 million already online, but they needed to understand how much they were willing to risk, given the regulatory and censorship systems.
