Facebook overlooks politics to expand in China
Facebook seeks to set up an innovation hub in China in a move that analysts said showed U.S. companies are not politicizing their expansion in the China.
"We are interested in setting up an innovation hub in [East China's] Zhejiang [Province] to support Chinese developers, innovators and start-ups," a Facebook spokesperson told the Global Times on Wednesday.
The spokesperson said Facebook has already established such hubs in several other countries, including France, Brazil, India and South Korea, and would focus on training programs and workshops that help local developers and entrepreneurs to innovate and grow at Zhejiang hub.
The comment came after media reports said that Facebook has already set up a subsidiary company in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang, with a registered capital of $30 million, a figure that was approved on July 18.
The subsidiary's main business focuses on technology development, technological information consultancy and marketing, according to a report by Beijing Daily on Wednesday, citing a filing on China's National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.
"We hold a welcome attitude toward the entrance of high-tech U.S. companies into the Chinese market. In fact, China is more open in the high-tech sector compared with the U.S.," said Fang Xingdong, founder of Beijing-based technology think tank ChinaLabs.
Facebook can be said to have entered the Chinese market a long time ago, as it already has established strong cooperation with Chinese companies, including those in the advertising world, according to Fang.
On Wednesday, several Chinese companies such as Beijing-based Blue Focus Group Co, Suzhou Anjie Technology Co and Wuxi Boton Technology Co disclosed their cooperation with Facebook.
Beijing-based Blue Focus Group Co said its subsidiary Blue Vision is one of the top agencies of Facebook in China. In 2017, the company purchased services worth 2.8 billion yuan ($413 million) from Facebook.
"China is a large market, which could provide abundant opportunities for Facebook. But considering the differences in systems and ideologies in the two countries, the U.S. social media giant has to understand and obey Chinese laws and regulations," Fang said. Although China-U.S. trade tensions have escalated in recent weeks, high-tech companies are not politicizing their expansion, he added.
Prices of Facebook-related shares soared on the same day. Blue Focus' stock rose by the daily limit of 10 percent to 5.89 yuan, Chongqing-based Simplicity excellence saw its price increase 10 percent to 36.49 yuan and Shenzhen Zqgame Co rose 5.24 percent to 11.84 yuan.
