China has joined US and European regulators in a crackdown on some of the world’s biggest liquid crystal display panel makers, signalling that Beijing is now a force in fighting global cartels.
The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s economic planning agency that regulates price-related monopoly issues, fined six South Korean and Taiwanese companies, including Samsung SDI, LG and Chimei Optoelectronics, Rmb353m ($57m) for fixing prices between 2001 and 2006.
The penalties are tiny compared with the $3.8bn US and European regulators have fined suppliers of flatscreen television components and the prison sentences that US courts have given industry executives since investigations began in 2006. But legal experts say the case has significance because it marks the first time Beijing has acted against an international cartel.