As these two e-commerce giants cross borders, the message is all about China. Obviously, it will not be a zero-sum game for China and the U.S. Both Alibaba and Amazon have been very successful in their respective domestic markets, and both will have to deal with China in the future. Amazon has already had a decade of experience with the Chinese market and has become a well-known brand in China, whereas Alibaba is new to almost all westerners. There is a chance that Alibaba may win in the "Made in China" goods and services trade, and that Amazon may win in "Made in USA" sales and market share in China. However, the two giants have developed successful but different business models. The Alibaba model integrates wholesale, retail, group buying, and payment settlement or financing together in one "package." This integration was challenging, but it has also helped to improve China's somewhat outdated financial and banking system. Jack Ma also believes that China's logistics industry has great potential for improvement, and therefore has the potential to dramatically grow business. But his focus is not on building distribution centers and infrastructure, but rather on creating platforms for small businesses to grow by making use of the Alibaba e-commerce platform.

China and the U.S. are the two largest economies in the world, but they do not share sufficient mutual trust (politically and strategically) in global affairs. But at the consumer level, Amazon knows how much the quickly-rising Chinese middle class likes American made products. Chinese international tourist spending has been nothing less than sensational for years. Furthermore, given food safety and product quality concerns in China, Chinese consumers may continue to be the highest-spending global shoppers. This explains why a growing number of Chinese online shoppers have becoming more and more excited about Amazon's entry into the Shanghai Free Trade Zone.

Very recently, Adobe announced a strategic move to close its R&D operations in China this year. Adobe's exit from China has caused concern about the status of China's intellectual property rights protection system. With the news of Adobe's strategic move, some Chinese consumers expressed their deep appreciation for Adobe products and apologized for using pirated Photoshop software over the previous years. Intellectual property protection will continue to be a critical but challenging issue for China to address. Growing software piracy has made a huge impact on Adobe, although it plans to move strategically from traditional boxed software to solutions in the cloud.

Foreign businesses may have sweet or bitter business experiences in China. But looking into the future, the Chinese economy increasingly matters to the world and to China's own national interests.

The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/zhanglijuan.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.

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