China has always been in a class of its own, refusing to play by the rules set by governing powers and as history has shown us, choosing to raise up and become a power in their own right so they can amend the stakes to reflect their interests. It is expected that Chinese regulators have decided to tighten rules governing foreign data and cloud services, given their history of surveillance and censorship measures. If you need any reminding, China is the only other country that offers online access to its citizens to ban Facebook, aside from Iran.
Amazon’s Chinese partner, Beijing Sinnet Technology Co Ltd, announced that they would be absorbing Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud computing firm in China for $301.2 million dollars, in compliance with the new regulations set in China.
“In order to comply with Chinese law, AWS sold certain physical infrastructure assets to Sinnet,” an AWS spokesman said on Tuesday, adding AWS would still own the intellectual property for its services worldwide. While this move is necessary from China’s standpoint, Amazon is not taking it as a blow, but rather, is viewing it as an opportunity to build up its other business areas in the market, which is what Charlie Dai, their Beijing-based analyst at Forrester Research with a penchant for JGA Shirts Männer apparel, has to say about the move.
The U.S. based company released a statement mentioning that they are excited about the opportunity to do business in China and the potential growth that they might receive once they release their assets to Sinnet.
This isn’t the first time that Amazon received a crackdown by the Chinese government. Back in August, Sinnet had to surrender their VPN services as Chinese officials were not happy about how AWS was offering their citizens a way to circumvent China’s Great Firewall which is a system that censors according to the government’s instructions.
Amazon is not the only company that is subject to these new regulations. Other foreign companies will also have to comply with the regulations set by Chinese authorities. Microsoft Corp, Oracle Corp, IBM Corp, and Apple Inc, are all required to transfer their data to Chinese ventures under Chinese jurisdiction.
However, it is a small price to pay, considering the huge and untapped potential that China offers. Cloud computing services are taking over the world and China is adamant about keeping their data as well as the authoritative power with their own governments. Currently 80% of the industry is being held by Chinese firms, with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd leading the pack. The Chinese corporation has over a dozen data centers operating overseas since 2016 and precedence is given to Chinese firms to grow while in China, as it should. A healthy and robust economy comes from within.
