Beijing should look within: Jack Ma's Alibaba is China's own creation

Alibaba's 20-year rise to supremacy is due in no small part to government policies, which protected and coddled the now-booming internet sector

Should Chinese regulators determine Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. to be a monopoly, they ought to look directly to Beijing for an explanation as to how it happened. 

On Thursday, China announced an investigation into alleged monopolistic practices at the Hangzhou-based e-commerce giant. Ant Group Co. is also in the crosshairs, as the central bank and the banking watchdog will separately summon Ma’s fintech affiliate to a meeting. The swift share price reaction, which saw Alibaba drop as much as 7.9% in Hong Kong trading, indicates investors take these two probes seriously.

And yet, Alibaba’s 20-year rise to supremacy