China's cyber watchdog spells out development strategies for tech giants

Bhang

10/02/2022 07:37

BEIJING, Feb 10 (Reuters) - China's cyberspace watchdog said
a symposium it held with Chinese tech giants last month had
given the industry a "clearer understanding" of how to pursue
future development and confidence, as they adjust to a new
regulatory landscape. 
    The Cyberspace Administration of China said its official
publication had carried out interviews with companies such as
Tencent Holdings  0700.HK  and Alibaba Group  9988.HK  and
TikTok owner ByteDance after the Jan. 28 meeting, which was held
with 27 firms to discuss "healthy and sustainable" development. 
    "Everyone agreed this symposium enabled internet firms to
have a clearer understanding of the development situation,
strengthen their confidence towards development and firmly grasp
development opportunities," the CAC said on its official WeChat
account. 
    The comments from the CAC come after what has been a
bruising year for the country's once-freewheeling tech giants,
which have been heavily targeted by Chinese regulators as part
of a campaign to exert more control over large swathes of the
economy after years of runaway growth.
    Investors have been watching out closely for clues on
whether the worst is over, given how the crackdown has roiled
global markets and technology stocks over the past year.   
    The CAC quoted Tencent founder and CEO Pony Ma as saying
that he had organised a "study of the symposium" for the social
media and gaming giant while Qihoo 360 Technology Co Ltd
chairman Zhou Hongyi said it had established "clear
coordinates". 
    Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang told the CAC it will improve its
strategy to better serve its platform users while ByteDance
China chairman Zhang Lidong was quoted as saying it will
"proactively" shift its business focus and goals, in order to
actively crack global markets and compete with mutinationals. 
    Tencent, Alibaba, Qihoo 360 and ByteDance did not
immediately respond to requests for comment. 

 (Reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Yingzhi Yang; Editing by
Brenda Goh and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
 ((Eduardo.MonteiroBaptista@thomsonreuters.com;))