Chinese officials issued an edict to Amazon about two years ago, as the company was selling President Xi Jinping's speeches and writings on its Chinese website. Customer ratings and reviews should not be allowed in China by the American e-commerce giant.

One of the people said the demand was prompted by a negative review of Xi's book. “I think the issue was anything under five stars,” the highest rating in Amazon’s five-point system, said the other person.

Amazon's e-commerce business relies heavily on ratings and reviews, major marketing tools to engage shoppers. Despite this, the two people said Amazon complied. At present, the book has no customer reviews or ratings on Amazon.cn, the Chinese site for government-published books. A comment section is also disabled.

As part of an on-going effort by Amazon to win favour in Beijing in order to protect and grow its business in one of the world's biggest markets, Amazon has been complying with the Chinese government edict, a move that has never been reported before.

Various "Core Issues" that Amazon has faced in China are outlined in an internal 2018 document that briefly describes the company's China operations. As noted in the document, "Ideological control and propaganda, among other things, are the main tools by which the communist party achieves and maintains its success." "We are not making judgements on good or bad."

This briefing document, along with interviews with more than two dozen people who have worked for Amazon in China, show how the company has survived and thrived in China by helping to advance the ruling Communist Party's global economic and political agenda while at the same time vetoing some government demands.

This strategy was based on Amazon's partnership with the Chinese propaganda apparatus for a project known as China Books - a selling portal on Amazon.com, the company's U.S. site. Despite offering over 90,000 publications for sale, the venture hasn't generated significant revenue. Amazon, however, considered it crucial to winning support in China as the company expanded its Kindle e-book device, cloud-computing services, as well as its e-commerce businesses.

As part of his trip to Beijing, Jay Carney, the global leader of Amazon's public-policy and lobbying operations, was briefed on the strategic implications of the China Books project.

"Kindle has operated in China in a policy grey area," the document said, noting that Amazon was experiencing difficulty securing a license to sell e-books in China.

“The key element to safeguard against its license problem with the Chinese government is the Chinabooks project,” the document stated.

The document also noted: “Amazon.com/China books project has also gained wide recognition among Chinese regulators.”

Image source: Reuters