A Taiwanese businessman lost 20 years of hard work and an investment of 16 million yuan ($2.2 million) in the western province of Xinjiang after the regime forcibly demolished his factory without warning in 2019.
After struggling for 4 years to obtain compensation, Beijing’s answer remained that he had “illegally exploited the land.”
“It’s a lie, I have all the documents to prove they lied,” the victim, Mr. Wang (who requested the use of an alias for fear of reprisal), told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times.
Betting On China Proves The Wrong Decision
Mr. Wang said he regrets the business decisions he made 20 years ago.According to Mr. Wang, he was pro-CCP at the time—but said this incident has taught him the cruelty of the Communist regime and its philosophy. “Now I know why we must oppose the CCP,” he said.
His Xinjiang factory mainly produced products related to environmental protection in China’s petroleum industry. When he returned to Taiwan in 2019 to further his children’s education, his factory was completely demolished without warning.
“I had worked hard in China for 20 years, the most precious time of my life. But everything was inexplicably destroyed overnight,” Mr. Wang said.
The daughter of high-ranking party cadres, his wife also had a sibling on the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection—an institution of internal control within the CCP—while a distant relative is a deputy mayor. Despite her family background of some power and social influence, his wife also found that her relatives distanced themselves from her after the demolition. “I realized the CCP could turn against you in a split second,” said Mr. Wang.
Mr. Wang sought governmental assistance from Taiwan. The Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Mainland Affairs Council, and the Straits Exchange Foundation on the island have all contacted him, but there has been hardly any progress.
The CCP never responded to the official inquiries from Taiwan, according to Mr. Wang.
Mr. Wang then tried to communicate with the relevant CCP offices, such as the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, through commercial channels. “Their attitude on the phone has been reluctant,” said Mr. Wang.
He also employed a law firm in Beijing, hoping to exercise his rights through legal channels. “Actually, my request is very simple,“ he said. ”I want my 16 million yuan back. China should compensate me for my loss.”
Asked why he then contacted The Epoch Times with the documents, he explained: “It took me two years to retrieve the documents because of the lockdown ... I wanted to expose their lies so that people are aware of it.”
China: A Bad Production Market
Mr. Wang went to China at the early stage of the communist regime’s so-called Reform and Opening Up, a period when China’s economy was really booming, he said.But Chinese wages have risen, and the cost of welfare and benefits for employees has also skyrocketed. Together, they have made China a much less competitive market for manufacturing. He said that many Taiwanese businesses have chosen to relocate their production lines to Southeast Asia.
“Coupled with the collapsing Chinese economy and real estate, many more people have lost confidence in China,” said Mr. Wang. He said the overall economic outlook in China is quite negative.
“Exports are down, there are ongoing sanctions by the United States, and the forced demolitions could happen at any time, to anyone,” he said.