Google To Invest $550 Million In Chinese E-Commerce Giant JD.com

hackingbear shares a report from Yahoo News: Google will invest $550 million in Chinese e-commerce powerhouse JD.com, part of the U.S. internet giant's efforts to expand its presence in fast-growing Asian markets and battle rivals including Amazon.com. The two companies described the investment announced on Monday as one piece of a broader partnership that will include the promotion of JD.com products on Google's shopping service. This could help JD.com expand beyond its base in China and Southeast Asia and establish a meaningful presence in U.S. and European markets. For JD.com, the Google deal shows its determination to build a set of global alliances as it seeks to counter Alibaba, which has been more focused on forging domestic retail tie-ups.

John Oliver just did an interesting piece

[rsilvergun]

about China [youtube.com]. It's his usual shtick, but it dovetails into this nicely. China's expanding their reach economically. That's not necessarily a good thing. Towards the end of that video they make the point that European governments have stopped talking about the Chinese government's human rights abuses. Not that my government [google.com] are saint's either. But at least they're getting called out on it without reprisal threats (that I know of to be fair).

Re:

[ShanghaiBill]

European governments have stopped talking about the Chinese government's human rights abuses.

Is there any evidence that "talking about" rights in China was helping? Maybe Westerners should accept that it is not their place to "fix" China. That is up to the Chinese people.

The Chinese people are more likely than Americans or Europeans to trust their government [chinadaily.com.cn], and to believe it represents their interests.

Also, an American is four times more likely to be arrested and incarcerated by their government, compared to China.

Re:

[ShanghaiBill]

So you link to some Chinese government propaganda ...

The referenced polls and surveys were conducted by American organizations.

Re:

[AHuxley]

AC its getting much more creative in China.
The "In China you cannot even access information that is critical of the government." is now moving to collect any information thats critical of the government and connecting it back to the user.
As the Communist government in China has total control over a person the government can start to take away some of them more accepted and useful parts of a persons ability to function.
A persons access to fast transport, a passport, their banking, to get a loan, good heal

Re:

[cascadingstylesheet]

A persons access to fast transport, a passport, their banking, to get a loan, good health care, housing in a part of China, to stay at work, pensions, further education, the removal of the results of all past education. All aspects of a persons ability to interact with modern society have the ability to be rationed or removed. Social Credit System https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]

So primitive; in America we just control all that with social media and lynch mobs.

Re:

[ShanghaiBill]

In China you cannot even access information that is critical of the government.

Not true. You can find plenty of critical information in China. Ironically, anyone in China can read YOUR POST since Slashdot is not censored.

So, according to you, an evil totalitarian government is OK ...

China is authoritarian, not totalitarian. This is 2018, not 1968, and Xi Jinping is not Mao Zedong.

You should get a passport and go visit China. You may be shocked at how different things are compared to the narrative that you have been spoon fed by the American media.

Re: John Oliver just did an interesting piece

[fubarrr]

Man, are you ever checking replies to your comments?

I'm in Shenzhen till Saturday. Any chance you have time for a beer? my weixin baybal_mk2

Re:

[ShanghaiBill]

I'm in Shenzhen till Saturday.

Sorry, I am in San Jose, California. I won't be back in China until August, and then only for a few weeks.

Wouldn't it be funny

[alvinrod]

Wouldn't it be funny if some years later this played out similarly to the Yahoo/Alibaba deal? Google would become a useless husk that's being sold off to a mobile carrier for brand name and parts while their stake in a Chinese company is where the majority of the value is at.

I don't really see that happening as I haven't seen anything that would be a technological challenger to Google on a wide scale, but one never knows how the landscape will have changed in a decade.

Re:

[AHuxley]

Like all the other bands that entered Communist China since the 1970's and thought they would be selling to millions of people and make billions in new profits?
No ability to move profits out of China. All later profits became lost to unexpected local costs.

A Dangerous Road for Google (and us) to go down

[aberglas]

You cannot do business in China without doing it the Chinese way. Once Google has a sizable investment there they will want to protect it. And China will make use of that.

It would not matter so much for a car company or a steel company. But Google tells us what to read. We trust it to find information for us. Including about the 3 Ts, Tianamin, Tiawan and Tibet. A little pressure here, a little pressure there.

One saving grace was that Google had a culture of internal debate and openess. But that went