Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. was recently embittered in a public fight with the Chinese government after it had been served with counterfeit accusations by the small and yet aggressive regulatory agency, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce (SAIC).
Even though it seems that the agency backed down a bit quickly after the big company aired their grievances, the China regulator remains to be in the spotlight. Many are staying tune to whether the regulator can be successful in this unprecedented aggressive move against a major company of the massive e-commece market.
This week, SAIC posted a white paper on its website stating that Alibaba should be held accountable for allowing the sales of counterfeit goods and illegal items such as weapons on its website.
SAIC also accused the huge company of accepting bribes and more other violations.
Alibaba quickly responded to the negative claims, which is a rare move for a Chinese firm. According to Alibaba Executive Vice Chairman Joseph Tsai, the agency's approach can be described as being so unfair that they felt pressured to file a formal complaint against the regulatory agency. SAIC was also accused of "procedural misconduct."
On Thursday, SAIC removed its accusatory post from its website without giving a reason. No official comments from SAIC officials were given over the matter as well.
SAIC once said that it is a staunch protector of the marketplace. Now that it launched an aggressive move against a e-commerce giant and backed down, the regulator draws everyone's attention.
It remains to be seen what would come off the public fight, especially for the e-commerce industry. It is also yet to be seen whether SAIC would set a precedent for other regulator agencies to be aggressive.