The fierce reaction in China to Jack Ma’s Tiananmen comments shows the real dilemma of doing business in China – politics. But international investors are looking forward to Alibaba’s IPO despite the backlash.

A more than one hour long recording of an interview Ma gave to Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post was provided by Alibaba and posted on the Wall Street Journal’s Chinese website this week in an attempt to defend his reputation.

In the SCMP interview published on July 13, Ma was quoted as saying:"I made cruel decisions when thousands of Alibaba’s customers were involved in fraud, and when we adjusted Alipay’s structure. As the CEO of a company, you have to do that. It’s like Deng Xiaoping, the then top leader, had to make cruel decisions during the June 4 crackdown for the country’s stability."