It has been a shock for Baidu whose fortunes up until now had been very different. Together with the likes of Alibaba, Tencent, Suning, Baidu was supposed to be a role model business in what President Xi Jinping called the Chinese dream. [...] It is private sector internet entrepreneurs who project internationally China’s soft power, which remains disproportionately small compared to the size of its economy and military might.

Trust-building measures through candid exchange and action via multilateral and bilateral accords on key common challenges are needed, specifically counterfeiting, cyber-crime, piracy, terrorism, greater financial openness, and transparency. 

Alibaba is but one example of China’s “private sector diplomacy.” These successful companies help promote a positive image of China’s economy to the outside world, something the government needs. China’s private sector diplomacy can also be felt in the expansion of its private companies on the global market.

Chinese internet company Sina plans to spin off its Twitter-like microblog service, Weibo, in a US initial public offering to raise US$500 million, a person with knowledge of the deal said on Tuesday. The person, who wasn’t authorised to speak publicly about the deal, said investment banks Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse had been hired to manage the IPO in New York.