Jack Ma: "To setup new bilateral trade rules between Japan and China"

-An Excerpt from Nikkei Net Business

Nikkei Net Business recently had an interview with Mr. Jack Ma, CEO of the Alibaba.com, which launched its Japan Site on Oct 18th.

Q: How will Alibaba Japan site perform its function as "a trading bridge between China and Japan"?

A: First, we will provide the Chinese suppliers' information to the Japan market to help business between Chinese SMEs and Japanese ones.

According to our latest survey, 84% of our 1 million China companies expressed their great interests in doing business with Japanese companies. Now over 300 Chinese suppliers have got their VIP membership at Alibaba Japan for RMB 20,000/year (Apprx. USD2,400). And this number is growing at the rate of 10 companies one week.

Q: Even if there is much information, will the credit issue be a hindrance for further involvement of Japanese buyers?

A: The listed China Suppliers will all go through a credit check by a third party. Also we are planning to set up a buyer service center in Shanghai aiming to help Japanese companies find China companies, as we see Japanese buyers need more support than buyers from western countries, who can better communicate with Chinese manufactures and trading companies in English. I wish now Alibaba can really help Japanese companies catch/seize new business opportunities.