China's top anti-corruption agency says a 'vile drinking culture' was partly to blame for Alibaba sexual assault case

• China's anti-corruption agency said Tuesday that a "vile drinking culture" was partly to blame in its recent Alibaba sexual assault case.
• It said unhealthy workplace dynamics, coupled with a lack of transparency, exposed "unspoken rules."
• Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said Monday that regardless of gender, employees should not be coerced into drinking.

China's top anti-graft watchdog, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), said Tuesday that a vile drinking culture and a toxic work environment were partly to blame for the Alibaba sexual assault that made headlines over the weekend.

In a commentary published online, the CCDI took aim at how "unspoken rules" were exposed and perpetuated in the Alibaba sexual assault case.

"During the incident, problems such as a toxic workplace environment, vile drinking culture, and lack of transparency exposed unspoken rules that have taken root. It may seem non-existent, but they stubbornly exist," wrote the CCDI.

On Saturday, a female Alibaba employee took to the company's intranet, where she shared an 11-page PDF in which she alleged she was sexually assaulted by her supervisor and a client while on a work trip in July. In her complaint, she said her managers downplayed her complaint.

Her story was later posted to Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, by a user named Zhao Hongming, where it was reposted more than 85,000 times as of the time of writing.

On Monday, Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang, in a memo seen by Reuters, took aim at the "ugly culture of forced drinking" in the company, adding that "regardless of gender, whether it is a request made by a customer or supervisor, our employees are empowered to reject it."

In his memo, Zhang said the male supervisor, who was accused of sexually assaulting his subordinate, had been "fired and will never be rehired," while the two managers who did not take her complaints seriously had also resigned.

"Alibaba Group has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual misconduct, and ensuring a safe workplace for all our employees is Alibaba's top priority," a company spokesperson told Reuters on Monday. Alibaba did not immediately reply to Insider's request for comment for this story.

Drinking plays a big role in business dealings in China, where "guanxi" - personal relationship - is key in securing deals. Building this rapport usually involves drinking alcohol, which in turn results in a drinking culture where it's considered rude to refuse a drink, as highlighted in the commentary by CCDI.

The anti-graft watchdog called for "the underlying issues of bullying culture and drinking culture" to be eradicated and replaced with "correct values," while also calling for harsh punishments for offenders.

China is not alone among Asian countries in having a professional culture that's tied closely to its drinking culture. In South Korea, as Matthew Loh recently wrote for Insider, the term "gapjil" is used to describe workplace traditions of forced drinking sessions, long hours, and weekend work. In Japan, too, drinking with colleagues and one's boss is a traditional part of workplace culture, though some reports indicate the country is experiencing a slow shift away from required workplace drinking sessions.