Latin American e-commerce giant Mercado Libre, often dubbed the “eBay of South America”, has appointed Mah Soon Sin as its China head of legal and government relationship to support the company’s expansion in the country.
Mah is qualified to practise in Malaysia, Ireland, and England and Wales. His expertise covers cross-border M&A, foreign investment, private equity and venture capital, as well as data compliance.
Before joining Mercado Libre, Mah spent five years at Alibaba Group, serving in multiple roles including legal director of the global express department at Cainiao Network, head of legal for product compliance and IPR at TMall Taobao World, and head of legal for IPR, product compliance, marketing, US and LATAM at AliExpress. He is now relocating from Hangzhou to Shanghai for the new post and has been invited by the Shanghai Bar Association to join as a special member in his capacity as an in-house counsel.
Mah previously served as legal director of international affairs at Haier Group and earlier worked at AllBright Law Offices as an international legal consultant. Earlier in his career, he held positions at the Securities Commission Malaysia, local firms and Germany’s Luther Law Firm. Before turning to law, he was a correspondent for Sin Chew Media Corporation.
From 2023 to 2025, China Business Law Journal recognised Mah in its In-house Counsel Awards for three consecutive years.
Founded in 1999, Mercado Libre is the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America, with operations across Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and other markets. The company listed on the Nasdaq in 2007.
The company entered the Chinese market in 2019, launching its cross-border trade initiative. In 2025, Mercado Libre unveiled a series of incentives to attract Chinese sellers, including the launch of its official China website, the removal of turnover requirements, reduced self-shipping logistics fees, and lowered free-shipping requirements across its Latin American platforms.
