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Martin Choi

Jack Ma Yun, the chairman of Alibaba, has told the Davos summit that the world should be alert to the risk that the latest technological revolution will trigger another world war.
The Chinese e-commerce billionaire told the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Switzerland that the rise of new technology, while bringing positive change to the world, was bound to create social problems.
But he also expressed his innate trust in the ability of technology to do good.
“First, as a technology company, we believe that technology is great for human beings. We believe that technology can create a lot of jobs,” Ma said.


“When in its early stages, every technology creates worries,” Ma said. “Worries, if you do not manage them well, create problems.”
He also told the event: “The first world war was because of the first technology revolution. The second technology revolution caused the second world war. This is the third technology revolution – we’re coming.”
Ma, China’s richest man with a net worth of nearly US$38 billion, also defended globalisation and free trade, but highlighted the need for reform.
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The WTO, he said, needs to be “upgraded to the second version”.
“Globalisation in the past 30-40 years has helped a lot of countries to grow, especially countries like China,” Ma said. “The whole world is expecting a new form of globalisation.”
He argued that many people dislike globalisation because they feel it excludes them, but getting more developing countries and small firms to engage with the process would help to improve matters.
Globalisation has been controlled by 60,000 big companies for the past 20 years, Ma argued, adding that he hoped that this number would expand to 60 million businesses, including small enterprises.
“Most of free-trade zones today are designed only for big companies. We think there should be free trade zones for small companies to import and export,” he said, adding that trades below US$1 million should be totally tariff free.
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Ma also said that having access to a smart phone meant that people around the world can “buy globally, sell globally, deliver globally, pay globally and travel globally, having fun”.
He told the event that this was the vision behind Electronic World Trade Platform (eWTP) a new trading platform built by Alibaba in collaboration with the WTO, which expanded into Africa late last year.
The platform is designed to facilitate tariff-free trade for transactions with a value below US$1 million, according to the World Economic Forum,
Farmers in Rwanda, which was the first African country to open up to the platform, are now able to sell coffee directly to Chinese buyers, getting US$12 a kilogram for their crops – US$4 more than they received previously.
Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.


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China society

Technological revolution could plunge us into another world war, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma warns Davos

Jack Ma pictured at the World Economic Forum summit in Davos. Photo: EPA-EFE

News

China

People & Culture

Tech

Alibaba chief tells World Economic Forum that while technology brings positive changes to the world, we should be alert to its dangers
China’s richest man also calls for overhaul of world economic system to ensure more people can share benefits of globalisation


Alibaba chief tells World Economic Forum that while technology brings positive changes to the world, we should be alert to its dangers.


Jack Ma

Alibaba

World Economic Forum

Technological revolution could plunge us into another world war, Chinese billionaire Jack Ma warns Davos

Alibaba chief tells World Economic Forum that while technology brings positive changes to the world, we should be alert to its dangers China’s richest man also calls for overhaul of world economic system to ensure more people can share benefits of globalisation

Alibaba chief tells World Economic Forum that while technology brings positive changes to the world, we should be alert to its dangers

China’s richest man also calls for overhaul of world economic system to ensure more people can share benefits of globalisation