MESOP NEWS BACKGROUND Beijing Lays Out Plan to Tighten Economic Regulation

The Chinese government published (SCMP) a blueprint for increasing regulation (FT) of economic sectors such as technology and health care over the next five years. The plan suggests that the government will continue to intervene in the tech and education spheres, crackdowns that triggered a market sell-off (CNBC) in recent weeks.

The document says the changes aim to build a modern regulatory environment that will improve Chinese peoples’ livelihoods. Though the plan is unclear about specific actions the government will take, it forecasts stronger antitrust enforcement and new legal frameworks for the digital economy. In parallel, China’s banking and insurance watchdog issued new recommendations (Bloomberg) for marketing, pricing, and privacy protection. Government regulators in recent months have punished firms (CNN) for issues including alleged mishandling of sensitive data and worsening inequality, with tech groups losing tens of billions of dollars in value.
Analysis
“Beijing’s recent antitrust efforts are motivated less by worries about the tyrannical nature of monopoly power than by the belief that China’s tech giants are insufficiently committed to promoting the goal advanced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of transformative technological innovation—and thus may be undermining the effectiveness of Chinese industrial policy,” Harvard University’s Josh Freedman writes for Foreign Affairs.

“We can’t draw too much insight about enforcement and the potential shape of crackdowns from one document or another,” Graham Webster of Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center tells Bloomberg. “Much depends on what bureaucrats and their higher-ups land on in terms of priorities month after month.”