Is China really opening up big data?
中国是否真正放开大数据
June 01, 2016 | BY
Katherine Jo &clp articlesWhile Premier Li pledged to liberalize big data, cloud and e-commerce to draw foreign investors, practitioners flagged regulatory ownership restrictions and security controls as major obstacles. 虽然李克强总理承诺放开大数据、云和电子商务以吸引外国投资者，但从业者仍将监管所有权限制和审查控制视为主要阻碍。
Premier Li Keqiang's recent statement that China will create a more transparent and equal market to attract overseas investment in big data and e-commerce has sparked skepticism among lawyers, with some saying that it's unlikely existing restrictions will be lifted far enough to lure any significant foreign ownership.
They pointed to a 50% non-Chinese equity control cap in the sector as well as overarching national and cybersecurity requirements.
The Premier's comments came during a keynote speech at the May 25 opening ceremony of the China Big Data Industry Summit and the China E-commerce Innovation and Development Summit in Guiyang, Guizhou province. The events were held during the Guiyang International Big Data Expo 2016, and were attended by 20,000 leading Chinese and multinational companies (MNCs) including Qualcomm president Derek Aberle, Dell CEO Michael Dell, Microsoft executive vice president Lu Qi, Tencent chairman Ma Huateng (Pony Ma), Baidu president Li Yanhong (Robin Li) and JD.com CEO Liu Qiangdong (Richard Liu).
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