Review №33 on Chinese Antitrust News from the BRICS Competition Centre Experts
- The future of the Internet according to Tencent is "immersive convergence"
- All-China meeting on market regulation
- Proposal to broadcast online with a delay
- Feedback on draft new antitrust rules
- First University Chair of Metaverses
- Huawei enters the taxi market
- Microsoft plans to open 1,000 new jobs in China
The future of the Internet according to Tencent is "immersive convergence"
Tencent has partnered with consulting firm Accenture to publish a white paper on "immersive convergence." The founder of the company, Pony Ma, mentioned this term back in 2020, speaking about the renewal of the Internet and the path to the formation of a new industrial ecology and a new lifestyle through the merging of the virtual and real world, but did not give a clear definition then. Now, in a statement, he explains that "the door to the future of 'immersive convergence' is being opened by continuous breakthroughs in software and hardware technologies - cloud computing, AI, augmented reality." According to the White Paper, unlike metaverses where people can interact in a virtual world through avatars, immersive convergence is more business-focused than consumer-focused. Examples include technologies that allow workers to remotely control machinery in potentially hazardous locations (mines or ports) or help plant managers make better decisions based on process data. According to Tencent, "immersive convergence" will help solve "practical issues in real-life scenarios": it is obvious that the company will seek to commercialize its technologies.
Sources: SCMP, Tencent Cloud
All-China meeting on market regulation
Representatives of the market departments of 14 provinces of China held a working meeting via videoconference. They discussed the methods used to combat "administrative monopoly", unfair and anti-competitive practices, shared their experience in developing a fair competition policy, countering local protectionism and dividing markets. All participants reaffirmed the need to stop cases of abuse of power by the authorities in order to limit or eliminate competition. Representatives of the regulator in Zhejiang province, where Alibaba is headquartered, proposed using digital power to improve regulatory efficiency. The key role of a fair competitive order in building a “single national market” – i.e. formation of a close systemic relationship between the local economies of the country.
Source: Zggpjz.coml
Proposal to broadcast online with a delay
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has published for public consultation draft rules for regulating online programs - concerts, festivals, shows and theatrical performances. They ask broadcast operators to strengthen the content review system, establish independent content management departments, and control and monitor user comments in real time. For programs broadcast live, it is proposed to broadcast with a delay and appoint specialists for verification, so that if “problems” are found, the show should be immediately interrupted and the violation corrected.
Source: m.gmw.cn
Feedback on draft new antitrust rules
In late June, China's legislature approved a new version of China's Antimonopoly Law, the first amendments to the law since it was passed in 2008. In order to further develop antitrust laws and improve the efficiency of law enforcement, immediately after the approval of the amendments, six drafts of related regulatory documents were posted on the SAMR website for public consultations. The package includes draft rules for consideration of economic concentration transactions, rules on the prohibition of abuse of a dominant market position, on the prohibition of anti-competitive agreements, on the prohibition of the abuse of intellectual property rights to eliminate or restrict competition, on the prohibition of the abuse of administrative powers to the detriment of competition, as well as a draft new version of the Rules of the State Council of the People's Republic of China on the criteria for notification of economic concentration transactions.
The gathering of public opinion continued until the end of June, and the market regulator recently reported on the feedback received: a total of 299 comments were received on three of the six documents. Further, on the basis of the accepted opinions, the department will make appropriate changes to the text and continue to work on the implementation of new rules.
Source: Weixin.qq.com
First University Chair of Metaverses
The School of Artificial Intelligence of Nanjing University of Informatics and Technology has renamed the Department of Information Engineering to the Department of Metaverse Engineering, the first university department in China named after the metaverse industry. Dean of the AI School Pan Zhigeng said that he will introduce new courses and disciplines at the renamed department - it will educate innovative specialists for enterprises operating in the field of smart health care, smart education, digital tourism, etc. It will also partner with development companies and metaverse operators to deepen the integration of education and production. According to the dean, it is planned to jointly conduct master's, doctoral and postdoctoral programs with the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Source: The Global Times
Huawei enters the taxi market
Following the results of two months of work in test mode, the Petal taxi aggregator from the Huawei developer was officially launched. Petal, at the request of the user, offers services from various providers on its platform - it will compete with Amap, which operates on a similar model, and also has the potential to take some of the users of DiDi, which is still prohibited from registering new users due to cybersecurity checks. On Huawei phones, Petal is available even without downloading the application: with a quick search, the system automatically launches a mini-program.
Source: Weixin.qq.com
Microsoft plans to open 1,000 new jobs in China
Despite the slowdown in the economy and layoffs in some technology companies, Microsoft said it will open another 1,000 new jobs next year, a move that confirms the company's confidence in the prospects for the Chinese market. Currently, about 9,000 employees are engaged in the Chinese direction, while 80% of them work on R&D. Microsoft also announced plans to expand its campuses in Beijing, Shanghai and Suzhou over the next three to five years. “As a leading engine of economic growth in the world, China has a solid base to promote the development of the digital economy, demonstrating broad prospects and potential,” said Hou Yang, chairman and CEO of Microsoft China.
Source: SCMP
