Looking back, there is a reason why China's tech giants were able to develop, they had a degree of freedom that allowed [ them ] to unleash productivity and innovation not seen in any state-owned enterprises in China.

Sonja Opper

They began to raise a critical voice and began to look like people who can challenge current thinking, what we see now is how unstable this balance was, and that control remains the government's key interest.

It is a strategy that prioritizes short-term goals of political control over medium-term growth and development objectives, state-owned enterprises will not be able to fill the gap given weaker profit incentives and tighter control structures.

All of the big Chinese tech giants — in spite of their private nature — have cultivated a proximity to the government that presumably created the idea of balanced power relations.

The Party groomed rock-star like celebrities, [ and ] they were co-opted by making them members of the National People Congress.