Top JD.com executive says China’s tech regulation is becoming more ‘rational’

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Regulation on China’s technology sector isn’t loosening, it’s becoming more “rational” as a top executive at an e-commerce firm JD.com told CNBC.

Over the past 16 months, Beijing has imposed extensive regulation on the Internet industry, a move that has contributed to Billions of Dollars Worth Erasing From the Internet sector of China.

But the resurgence of Covid in China as well as the lockdown in major parts of the country has hit economic growth. The government is exploring ways to boost the economy, and there are signs Action could be easier on technology companies,

JD Retail CEO Shin Lijun told CNBC in an interview aired Friday that regulation is not necessarily easing, but it is becoming more stable.

“In fact, each country follows the same path when developing a certain number of sectors, including China and the US, which is to encourage innovation and provide a loose environment at an early stage, and then develop to a certain level. Moderate regulation is to be conducted when Shin said.

“The Chinese tech sector or the Internet sector is going through this process. Thus I would not say regulation [is] loosening up. I would say regulation [it] conducted in a more rational way.”

China’s technical action was thick and swift in areas ranging from antitrust data security And it appears that the speed with which it was implemented had distracted investors. But lately, regulatory action appears to be less intense.

“Current regulation is slowly going on a normal track. It is normal that there may be some unexpected negative effects when trying to apply regulation to new territory. But as regulation becomes more stable, overall growth [of the internet sector] And the market will be more stable.”

JD.com has largely escaped major regulatory action – unlike its rival Ali Baba one who was killed by Antitrust penalty of $2.8 billion last year,

Last month, China’s Deputy Prime Minister Liu He promised support for the technology sector And in a sign of potentially more supportive policies, Internet companies plan to go public.

This is usually a multi-day period of big discounts that includes China’s e-commerce giants JD.com, Alibaba and pinduoduo rack billions of dollars in sales across their platforms.

But this year’s edition comes in the backdrop of the resurgence of Kovid in China, due to which lockdown in major cities, especially Shanghai’s financial superpower. economists are predicting a Chinese economy slowdown This year while consumer spending remains under pressure.

in May, Retail sales fell 6.7% year-on-yearAlthough it was less than expected.

Xin said the re-emergence of the epidemic and China’s COVID policies have forced traders to switch to physical stores as they have had to close or suspend operations. Some logistics work of JD was also suspended.

The Chinese consumer has also been affected and Jin said this was seen in the lead up to this year’s 618 sales period.

“A certain level of slowdown in China’s economic growth also affects the willingness or confidence of Chinese consumers to consume,” Xin told CNBC. “Of course we are optimistic about the Chinese economy in the long run, but it is under pressure in the short term.”

The CEO of JD’s largest business segment said he is optimistic about the Chinese economy in the second half of this year.

“The government is working with companies on a large scale to introduce policies and I believe these measures should show effect in Q2 and Q3. I believe the Chinese economy is going to improve in H2 and will do better for next year,” Shin told CNBC.

He also said that the JD has introduced some measures to help traders during 618, such as cutting fees on the platform as the economy slows down.