China’s communist authorities are tightening their grip on the private sector

IT MIGHTCIIFAICIIFCIIFCIIF just be confused for one of the world’s savviest tech investors. China Internet Investment Fund’s () portfolio is the envy of venture capitalists everywhere. It owns part of a subsidiary of ByteDance, the Beijing-based parent of social-media group TikTok, and Weibo, a Twitter-like platform. It has a stake in SenseTime, one of China’s most advanced artificial-intelligence () groups, and Kuaishou, a popular short-video service. The firm’s investment list reads like a who’s who of the industry.More stunning are the terms of these investments. ’s 1% stake in a ByteDance subsidiary gives it the power to appoint one of three board members in a unit that holds key licences for operating its domestic short-video business. A similar bargain has been struck with Weibo, which is listed in New York, with picking up 1% for just 10.7m yuan ($1.5m). The firms hardly need more capital. Nor is , with plans for a 100bn yuan fund—enough to rival a big Silicon Valley venture-capital firm—overly concerned with the outsize returns its investments will certainly deliver.