China's Competition Policy Reforms: The Antimonopoly Law and Beyond

Chinese Competition: Do We Need a New Competition Policy Regime?

“…Private ownership was gradually introduced since the 1980s, but it was only explicitly allowed across the whole spectrum of the economy in 2004 when the Chinese National People's Congress amended the Constitution so as to explicitly protect private ownership of property, businesses and wealth. It actually took quite a long time for China to reach consensus on a competition law due to the fundamental issues arising from China's historic transformation from a centrally-planned economy to a market economy, including the role of the state-owned enterprises, perceived excessive competition, mergers and acquisitions by foreign companies, the treatment of administrative monopolies, and antitrust enforcement (Owen, Sun and Zheng 2007;Van Sinderen and Severijnen, 2008, provide a useful overview in Dutch).…”

Anti-Competitive Behaviors in Managed Competition: The Case of China’s Telecommunications Industry

“…Managed competition is one of the issues raised by Owen et al [2008] in their wide-ranging discussion of the Anti-Monopoly Law in China. They argue that the key competition policy issues faced in China are linked to the country's transformation from a centrally-planned to a market economy.…”

“…Some people in China argue that limiting excessive competition rather than enacting and enforcing the Anti-Monopoly Law should be prioritized in China. Owen et al [2008] counter this argument, noting that the examples raised are not ones of there being too much competition but rather examples of competition gone awry. Two additional issues identified by Owen et al [2008] are the role of state-owned enterprises and administrative monopoly.…”

“…Owen et al [2008] counter this argument, noting that the examples raised are not ones of there being too much competition but rather examples of competition gone awry. Two additional issues identified by Owen et al [2008] are the role of state-owned enterprises and administrative monopoly. They use the restructuring of the telecommunications industry, which saw the break-up of a single state-owned entity into several that competed against one another, to illustrate how the government has sought to introduce competition into a variety of markets.…”

“…They use the restructuring of the telecommunications industry, which saw the break-up of a single state-owned entity into several that competed against one another, to illustrate how the government has sought to introduce competition into a variety of markets. Having said this, Owen et al [2008] then go on to assert that although this restructuring successfully broke-up the monopoly provider the amount of competition that resulted was often very limited. Li [2009] also considers competition within the Chinese telecommunications industry, though from a different perspective than Zhang [2001].…”