[tangerine_beet]

I don't believe they'll maintain editorial independence either. But the reason is not so much guanxi as the need to cower to the will of the central government, especially on anything relating to national image and social stability. It's not a 'scratch my back I'll scratch yours' situation, but rather a 'central gov says scratch my back and I will or god knows what's going to happen to me'.

That said, there is another angle to this that I think worth mentioning. Ma and his partner claim their motiviation for the takeover is to counterbalance the bias they see in western media coverage on China, and I see no reason to doubt that. However, it doesn't mean they can't have other motivations, and a leader of a high profile Chinese company like Alibaba may have ideas or motivations that are better left unsaid until the time is right. If they were buying the newspaper to give more voice to government critics, do you think they would come out and say it?