China’s surging technology sector has nurtured behemoths such as online marketplace Alibaba, with its $195bn market capitalisation, and search engine Baidu, which reached 663m users in March. They owe much of their success to a vast and increasingly affluent population, growing internet use and the need to supply IT services to the public and private sectors.
It is not easy for foreign rivals to gain a share of this market, in part because Beijing has several concerns over the sector beyond the narrow self-interest of economic protectionism. These anxieties cover cyber security risks, increased freedom of speech for internet users and the threat of international espionage.
Revelations by Edward Snowden, the contractor turned whistleblower, over the US internet spying programme Prism have fuelled government concerns about foreign entities operating within China even as homegrown champions such as Huawei and ZTE emerge globally.