Today Taobao Taiwan decided to close its e-commerce platform after the government gave the option of either re-registering as a Chinese-owned platform or deleting it immediately, stripping it of its identity as part of the island-owned business.
The actions of the country's government are said to be aimed at increasing surveillance of Chinese firms amid growing tensions between Taipei and Beijing.
In fact, since August, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has given Claddagh Venture Investment 6 months to either stop investing or register Taobao Taiwan as a Chinese firm, not as an outside business.
Claddagh Venture Investment is controlled by Alibaba and is the firm that manages the Taiwan Taobao platform. But Alibaba does not own Taobao Taiwan and the e-commerce platform is different from Taobao China which is under Alibaba.
As a result, Claddagh decided to end the operation of the e-commerce platform on 31 December 2020 to complete the purchase and booking of customers in advance.
However, on the grounds of "emergence of uncertainty in the market", Claddagh ended Taiwan's Taobao operation today.
For now, Alibaba has not commented.
Tensions between the two provinces stem from China claiming Taiwan as part of its sovereignty. Since then, Taiwan has taken precautions with Chinese investment.
Even in August, the island was determined to block any local business for Chinese TV streaming services operated by iQiyi and Tenc
