Alibaba's success mirrors China's growth paradox

China's e-commerce giant Alibaba filed for its initial public offering (IPO) in the US Tuesday, paving way for its listing on the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq. The move instantly made headlines in major media outlets around the world.

While extending congratulations to Alibaba and its founder Jack Ma Yun, many Chinese analysts have mixed feelings about the listing. Alibaba, one of China's most successful private companies and a very attractive investment, is about to fall into the pocket of Westerners.

This is the bitter reality. After its founding in 1999, Alibaba received its much-needed cash injection from foreign venture capitalists. Now the two largest stakeholders of the company are Japan's Softbank and the US' Yahoo. Alibaba would have faced a series of policy and capital obstacles if it sought to get listed in China.

Alibaba took roots in China, but sought out opportunities worldwide at every stage to benefit its own development. Although Alibaba proposed a $1 billion IPO, US media predicted that it may ultimately achieve nearly $20 billion in share sales, becoming the largest technology IPO in history.

People can see not just China's financial growth and its tremendous potential, but also all kinds of deficiencies in China in terms of venture investment and further financing that companies need. As a truly "multinational" firm of the Internet era, Alibaba has continued to find golden opportunities around the world, and has grown into the biggest online and mobile commerce company.

Alibaba has set up a good example. China needs to come up with more indigenous methods to foster its own Internet giants. And hopefully next time when we witness such a success story, the biggest beneficiaries from it could be the Chinese, not foreigners.

From this single case of Alibaba, we can see the gap between China and the developed countries in terms of the division of labor. China provides labor and market, whereas the US and Japan occupy the high-end finance industry. It is hard to simply say this is reasonable or not. In the past 15 years, Alibaba had no alternative but to fit into this pattern.

Nonetheless, the basic impression that Alibaba gives to the world is that it is a "Chinese company." It mirrors the scale effect of the Chinese economy. Meantime, the details of its success story allow overseas observers an insight into China's opening-up.

We extend our congratulations to Ma and his business empire. The company is walking toward incredible success. It is debatable how many "Chinese elements" are involved in this process. What's more important is that we are confident more"Chinese elements" will be found in the rise of Chinese companies.