regulation
Bulletins

Meet China's new National Anti-Monopoly Bureau ​

The new regulator will help Beijing take on the digital economy.

Beijing skyline

The Beijing skyline.

Photo: Wang Yukun/Getty Images

On Thursday, China officially launched the new national bureau to supervise anti-monopoly work.

According to the bureau's website, the new administration will consist of three divisions, each focusing on a different task: policymaking, rules enforcement and M&A reviews.

What pops out from the official description of each division's responsibility is the focus on the digital economy. It is the only industry singled out as an emphasis of the bureau's work going forward, after several major Chinese tech companies like Alibaba have gone through anti-monopoly reviews this year.

Zeyi Yang

Zeyi Yang is a former reporter with Protocol | China. Previously, he worked as a reporting fellow for the digital magazine Rest of World, covering the intersection of technology and culture in China and neighboring countries. He has also contributed to the South China Morning Post, Nikkei Asia, Columbia Journalism Review, among other publications. In his spare time, Zeyi co-founded a Mandarin podcast that tells LGBTQ stories in China. He has been playing Pokemon for 14 years and has a weird favorite pick.

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