A controversial speech delivered by a Hong Kong economist in 2018 has found a new audience in mainland China, where some internet users are citing his arguments in favor of the market dominance of e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Chinese internet users revived interest in the old speech, “Everyone wants to be a monopolist,” in which economist Steven Cheung argued that the government should encourage market competition but also allow monopolies to exist.

“Jack Ma and Pony Ma are both monopolists. If you don’t let them dominate, China’s economy cannot prosper,” Cheung said in September 2018 in Guangzhou, respectively referring to the Alibaba Group co-founder and Tencent chair and chief executive.

“Fair competition means that the rules of the game are fair, but ability and victory is never fair. This is the source of improvement in human society. If you look at China’s development, it’s always about getting a monopoly.”

Cheung is a former chair of economics at the University of Hong Kong. He delivered the remarks at the invitation of China’s antitrust regulator, the State Administration for Market Regulation, though the speech has now been censored from major online platforms on the mainland.

He urged authorities to create an “objective and reasonable” environment for competition, but also to recognize that some monopolies must be protected.

Some Chinese netizens have dug up Cheung’s speech in support of Ma’s Ant Group, whose dual initial public offerings screeched to a halt under intensified Beijing scrutiny in November. China’s President Xi Jinping had personally asked regulators to look into risks posed by Ant’s US$34 billion listing exercise and to shut it down, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Beijing has also upped its efforts to rein in microlenders with proposed new rules, which would require internet platforms to fork out more of their own funding for the loans they arrange.

Some internet users shared Cheung’s speech to express anxieties that China might weaken private property rights in light of Ant’s aborted IPOs, Radio Free Asia reported.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play