China investigates Meituan, Alibaba units for suspected antitrust violations
China has been cracking down on monopolistic behavior, most recently fining Trip.com 5.2 billion yuan (US$776.41 million) over what the regulator said was its online hotel-booking monopoly.
China's market regulator, known as the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), is investigating several units from Meituan and Alibaba for suspected violations of unfair competition laws, according to CCTV broadcaster CCTV.
The investigation targets Beijing Sankuai Information Technology, Hangzhou Taomei Aviation Services, Tongcheng Network Technology, and Tujia Online Information Technology (Tianjin). These companies were reportedly identified after preliminary findings, following a meeting between SAMR and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism regarding the online booking industry.
Meituan and Alibaba's respective units have stated that they are cooperating with the authorities. Hangzhou Taomei and Tujia have both posted on their official WeChat accounts that their operations are normal and that they are cooperating with regulators. Meituan also confirmed on its official website that it will cooperate with the investigation.
The China Hotel Association reported that the Beijing branch of SAMR has initiated an investigation into four online hotel and travel booking platforms. However, the association did not specify which companies are under scrutiny.
Written by urgent.news from The Jakarta Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
