China NPC Delegate Picks Favor Chip Experts Over Internet Tycoons
- Academics and researchers are now favored tech representatives
- Formerly influential internet chiefs given the cold shoulder
Chinese internet moguls like Tencent’s Pony Ma have dropped from key lawmaking and advisory bodies, replaced by chip researchers and engineers in a sign of Beijing’s lingering distrust for private enterprise and focus on winning the tech race with the US.
Big-name internet entrepreneurs like Baidu Inc. Chief Executive Officer Robin Li and Tencent Holdings Ltd.’s chairman vanished from this year’s list of National People’s Congress and CPPCC participants, a notable absence that suggests Beijing isn’t ready to unshackle the private sector after waging a two-year campaign to rein in tech companies. In their time on the nation’s supreme legislative body, the two men had championed key policies that Beijing later went on to adopt — and their absence will diminish the influence of China’s internet players on future policy direction.