The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Beijing was considering replacing its trade negotiator with the U.S., with Vice Premier Hu Chunhua replacing Liu He, the original trade representative. China’s Ministry of Commerce has since denied this, but the Financial Times has reported that Liu He’s son, Liu Tianran, has resigned as chairman of his investment firm, Tian Yi Ziteng, as required by the Chinese Communist Party, but is still secretly making deals to invest in tech giants Tencent and Jingdong.
According to the Financial Times, Liu Tianran was the chairman of the company when it was founded in Zhejiang in 2016. In April 2017, six months before Liu He was promoted to the Politburo, Liu relinquished his chairmanship and then transferred his shares to a senior executive the following year. The report said this was because the Chinese government prohibits the children of high-ranking officials from holding key management positions in the industries their parents oversee.
The report cited sources as saying that even though he resigned as chairman and transferred his shares, he still secretly conducted transactions for “Tian Yi Zi Teng,” including a number of lucrative deals involving Chinese tech giant Tencent and Jingdong, suggesting that Liu played an important role in the transactions. “The company has grown rapidly over the past five years into a firm with more than 10 billion yuan in assets under management and more than 30 employees in its Beijing and Shanghai offices.
The Financial Times quoted financial industry sources as saying that the CCP’s “princelings” have been trying to keep a low profile, but have been attracted by financial market interests and have never left the financial market as required.
At present, Tencent, Jingdong and other Chinese science and technology giants are caught in the whirlpool of China’s “anti-monopoly investigation”, coupled with the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China to be held next year, the Financial Times disclosed “black materials” about Liu He’s family at this point in time, triggering the outside world’s imagination.
The outside world is pessimistic about Liu He’s political future
Liu He is said to be Xi Jinping’s confidant, the most important think tank on economic issues. In a rare move, Liu He was not accompanied by Xi during his visit to Henan Province earlier this month, with another vice premier, Hu Chunhua, standing next to him.
Liu He is now 69 years old and, according to the internal rules of the Communist Party, is not expected to move on to the next level, which means he has a good chance of retiring after the 20th Communist Party Congress next year.
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