Meanwhile, questions have been asked about the whereabouts of Alibabas founder Jack Ma.
In October last year, Ma lashed out at Chinasfinancial watchdogs and banks.
Among other complaints, he criticized the state-managed financial sector and was subsequently hauled into a meeting with regulators.
After that, the always-visible Ma was not seen in public for months.
The lenience once accorded to tech companies by the state no longer holds true.
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A fawning apology
The first real test for this relationship came late last year.
However, the chief executives of Western tech companies generallydont make fawning apologiesto government following accusations of anti-competitive behavior.
In 2000, when Alibaba was just one year old, only1.8% of the Chinese population was online.
This number now exceeds 50% of the population.
These were followed by Bytedance (which owns TikTok), Kuaishou and Meituan.
It eliminated less financially robust operators, many of whom were breaching copyright.
And Alibaba led the way.
This growth is largely due to the forces unleashed by Chinas new breed of digital capitalists.
Alibaba has invested heavily in research and development over the years.
It hasa modern campusin the Yuhang district in Hangzhou, recruiting foreign talent.
Other tech giants arent far behind.
Tencent has similar campuses in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, and Huawei has one in Dongguan.
Chinas tech market has driven growth and innovation.
In fact, Chinasanti-monopoly lawshave existed since at least 2007.
But their enforcement was lacking, as the state opted for innovation bynationalizing the tech sectorand letting it develop.
Putting a squeeze on activities now runs the risk of slowing down Chinas economy.
At the same time, the Chinese public isgrowing disillusionedwith the predatory practices of big tech.
This is the status of the relationship going forward.
The question now is whether this will lead to a permanent chill.
And new laws allow the Chinese government toaccess informationabout the users of Chinas tech platforms.
