Alibaba Praised For Efforts To Abolish Chinese Poverty, Help Farmers

Alibaba was commended by Chinese President Xi Jinping and the state media for its efforts to alleviate poverty and assist farmers with eCommerce, CNN reported on Friday (Feb. 26).

Xi complimented Alibaba and many other companies at an event to boost his campaign to put an end to destitution in the country. 

Alibaba “is privileged to have participated in [the anti-poverty campaign],” the company said on a social media Weibo post, per CNN.

The company also was commended for helping farmers via its eCommerce network, Chinese state media said. With Alibaba’s assistance, farmers were able to see about $155 billion in goods, per CNN. 

State-run China Youth Daily pointed out the technological advances that have been of assistance to farmers, like using algorithms from artificial intelligence (AI) to raise chicken, and live streaming to sell agricultural products. The state-run publication also mentioned how Alibaba helped poor rural women get education and training, and extended loans to rural regions.

Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma had been under fire by Beijing as investigations into the country’s tech sector magnified. The company’s FinTech, Ant Group, saw its mega initial public offering (IPO) halted by the government at the last minute late in 2020 after Ma reportedly criticized Chinese regulators. As a result, Ant Group is restructuring. The IPO was expected to raise as much as $35 billion.

Supporting the Communist Party is something expected of private firms in China, Xi said in September 2020, per CNN. 

Tech companies assisting with Xi’s anti-poverty campaign are meeting their responsibility of “serving the state,” Alex Capri, a research fellow at Hinrich Foundation and a visiting senior fellow at National University of Singapore, told CNN.

Ma said in November that he was willing to give China any of the platforms owned by Ant Group if the country needs it. Following the cancellation of the IPO, Ma disappeared for a time before resurfacing in January to give a speech.