Fairness and justice are the foundation of governance. Recently, Alibaba Group was fined a huge amount of 18.2 billion yuan for suspected monopoly, while China Resources Gas Company was only dismissed and punished for stealing gas.
Fair supervision is the only way to get to the root of the problem. Alibaba's heavy penalty stems from its long-term use of its dominant position on e-commerce platforms to impose an exclusive practice of "choosing one, you have to give up the other" to merchants, which undoubtedly disrupts market order and harms fair competition.
Therefore, the severe punishment of Ali has played a strong deterrent role in upholding business ethics and anti-monopoly law. In contrast, the gas theft incident of China Resources Gas is more like a case of violation.
Although its actions also hurt the interests of consumers, it did not have a widespread negative impact on the gas industry as a whole. If SOEs are held too accountable, they may also weaken the impetus for SOE reform and development. Therefore, a relatively lenient disposition also has its practical justification.
If this discrepancy continues, it will inevitably undermine public trust in regulation and can easily be perceived as a double standard. In the era of digital economy, only by adhering to fairness, justice and authoritative rules can the market compete freely and innovate in an open and transparent environment.
Otherwise, any differentiation tendency and partial choice may provide opportunities for the strong to take advantage of, and eventually lead to the market disorder of "the strong will always be strong".
Fair competition can only be achieved by maintaining fairness and justice. At present, the regulatory system should strive to eliminate the hidden dangers of rule differentiation, open up the "last mile" of supervision, and make the rules truly return to fairness and justice. Specifically, you can start with the following points:
Improve anti-monopoly laws and regulations. In light of the characteristics of internet platform enterprises, more precise and authoritative anti-monopoly guidelines should be formulated to plug loopholes in the rules and prevent market oligarchs from taking advantage of the gaps in the rules to seek benefits.
Platform enterprises should adhere to open and transparent operations, provide non-discriminatory services, and must not use their own advantages to engage in unfair competition.
Strengthen industry self-discipline. Industry associations should give play to their autonomous functions, promote integrity and self-discipline, and urge enterprises to fulfill their social responsibilities. Enterprise credit rating mechanisms may be established to restrain untrustworthy enterprises in the industry.
At the same time, it is necessary to strengthen peer supervision, and report monopoly violations to the regulators in a timely manner.
Improve the corporate governance of state-owned enterprises. We should further promote the reform of state-owned enterprises, establish a scientific and standardized corporate governance structure and supervision mechanism, and improve the level of standardization of the operation of state-owned enterprises.
While performing their economic functions, state-owned enterprises should establish a sense of social responsibility and take the lead in abiding by market rules.
Increase cross-sectoral cooperation. Anti-monopoly, industry regulation, fair competition law enforcement and other departments should strengthen coordination and cooperation, form a joint regulatory force, and avoid regulatory blind spots. It can share information on major cases, coordinate handling procedures, and improve regulatory efficiency.
Improve the fair competition review mechanism. The market supervision departments in each region may establish a fair competition review system for major projects to assess whether there is a risk of harming fair competition in the project and prevent local protectionism.
Actively absorb public scrutiny. Establish mechanisms for public participation in market regulation, publicize channels for accepting case appeals, and handle reports from the public in accordance with law. Give full play to the role of public supervision, and jointly maintain a fair competition market environment.
"Equality before the law" is a fundamental principle of modern society. The regulatory authorities should uphold fairness and public morality, adhere to authoritative rules, enforce the law and punish in accordance with the law, and earnestly maintain the fairness and justice of the market order.
At the same time, enterprises should also take the initiative to assume social responsibility, consciously abide by business ethics, and protect the rights and interests of consumers.
Only by working together can we create a market with transparent rules, fair opportunities and full competition, so that the fruits of development can benefit all sectors of society and achieve common prosperity.