Summary
Whether Shopee is a Chinese-funded company or not remains controversial, since the nationality of the founder and the chairman of the board, Forrest Li, is unclear. We can see from the investor details from Shopee that a Chinese-based company (Tencent) owns 20% or more. As published by The Economic Democracy Union, we should carefully consider data security and cash flow out of Taiwan through Shopee.
Score Analysis
Ownership, Shareholders and Political Activity: -2
Shopee belongs to the Sea Group and the founder and operator are Forrest Li, who was born in Tianjin, China; yet his identity documents show that he is Singaporean. The nationality of Forrest Li remains unclear. According to the MOEA definition of Chinese-funded enterprises, subsidiary companies where Chinese-funded assets/capital hold more than 30% of the shares is defined as “Mainland-funded” companies. If Forrest Li’s nationality is clarified, Shopee’s classification as a Chinese-funded company will be reconsidered. Due to this controversy, we applied a deduction to the score, -2.
Media Reputation, Public Controversy and Boycott Calls: -3
Shopee was criticized for its pro-Thai government stance in Thailand since Shopee banned a seller who is a supporter of the opposition party. #BanShopee then became the third-highest trending hashtag with over 57,000 uses and many Twitter users saying they’ve deleted the app. This justified boycott and the political stance lead to a score reduction of -3.
(Scroll down to see more about Thailand and China Politics)
Other: -4
Shopee’s overseas website blocked searches for the keyword “Taiwan”, using “China Taiwan” instead. This is suspected to be a pro-China action, since the phrasing “Chinese Taipei” or “China Taiwan” are labels that the CCP pressures many companies to use, to the detriment of Taiwan (-2). Besides, Shopee released an online advertisement “Bye now, buy now” that insinuating PChome in 2018, but apologized two years later (2020). Using offensive advertising and slandering the competitor left a bad impression on some in Taiwanese society (-1). In addition, The Economic Democracy Union reported that Shopee has a large amount of personal information and corporate cash flow (-1). The FSC Taiwan repeal the electronic payment license of Shopee Payment; however, this news didn’t result in deductions yet but may in the future after there is more information come out from the investigation. Overall, these elements led to a score reduction of -4
Thailand and China Politics
Basic Information
| Ownership | Sea Group (冬海集團) |
| Leadership | Forrest Li (李小冬) |
| Revenue | NT$33.60 billion |
| Shareholders | Foreign Owned (外資) |
| Website | https://shopee.tw/ |
Data Collection
蝦皮購物於2015年首次在新加坡推出，目前已擴展到馬來西亞、泰國、台灣、印尼、越南、菲律賓和巴西。蝦皮購物結合在地金流及物流系統，並融合行動與社交元素，打造具互動娛樂功能的電商平台，為全世界華人地區用戶的線上購物和銷售商品提供服務。
Source: 蝦皮官網
Forrest Li, the founder and CEO of the Sea Group, is Chinese, but his identity documents show that he is Singaporean. Whether Li has renounced his Chinese nationality, and whether the time point was before or after the law was revised in Taiwan must be clarified. According to the Ministry of Economic Affairs revised the definition of Chinese-funded enterprise that to all subsidiary companies where Chinese-funded assets/capital hold more than 30% of the shares is defined as Mainland-funded companies. If the nationality of Forrest Li is Chinese, whether Shopee is a Chinese-funded company will be re-judgemented.
Sources:
Shopee’s explosive growth pushes Sea to near $1b revenue
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210302005582/en/Sea-Limited-Reports-Fourth-Quarter-and-Full-Year-2020-Results
Latest Update (16/Aug):
The FSC Taiwan repeal the electronic payment license of Shopee Payment
The FSC Taiwan announced today (14/Aug) that it will officially abolish the license for the electronic payment business of Shopee Payment. The Banking Bureau of the Financial Services Commission stated that Shopee Pay will no longer be allowed to conduct any substantial agent collection and payment business from now on, and that the cash flow transactions that are still in progress must ensure the rights of consumers.
The FSC also pointed out that Shopee Payment did not apply to the FSC for the issuance of an electronic payment institution business license before the end of get off work today. Therefore, in accordance with Article 13, Item 3 of the Electricity Payments Regulations, the license for Shopee Payment’s exclusive electronic payment was abolished. From tomorrow on, Shopee Payment must adopt a response plan that complies with the laws and regulations to properly settle the current business and ensure the rights of users.
聯合新聞網：金管會正式廢止許可 蝦皮支付連第3方支付都不能做
Shopee is suspected of illegally operating the banking industry, the investment review committee should reject the case of its capital increase
The Investment Board should reject the application for a capital increase of Shopee payment, and the financial management committee and inspections should also promptly intervene in the investigation.
Source:
Overseas Shopee block the keyword "Taiwan"
Source:
Shopee has a large amount of personal information and corporate cash flow
Source:
https://www.facebook.com/eduniontaiwan/posts/4008887512549649
https://www.facebook.com/eduniontaiwan/posts/4077661392338927
https://www.facebook.com/eduniontaiwan/posts/4077747982330268
The #BanShopee hashtag climbed to the top of Thailand's Twitter trends
Shopee apologizes to PChome for Insinuating in the Ads
Source:
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