In a sign of new dynamics in the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) incessant internal struggle, the discipline watchdog has targeted several financial syndicates run by the party’s Princelings, involving the high-ranking red families and a number of associated officials.
CCP’s Princelings, Who Rein Most of the Regime’s Financial Lifeline
As of April 17, over a dozen inspection teams dispatched by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) have been stationed in 34 economic departments and financial units, including its central bank and financial regulators, for a three-month-long investigation into “violations of political and organizational discipline.” The move was reported to end on July 12.On “Pinnacle View,” an independent TV producer, Li Jun, noted that the inspection team targeted two renowned enterprises in Beijing. Both can be considered gathering places for the CCP’s Princelings.
One is China International Trust Investment Corporation (CITIC), a state-owned investment conglomerate established by Rong Yiren, vice president of Communist China from 1993 to 1998, with the approval of then-party leader Deng Xiaoping. In 2023, the company was ranked 71st in the Forbes Global 2000.
Another is China Poly Group Corporation (Poly Group), a large state-owned centralized enterprise under the State Council ranked among the Fortune 500 since 2015. Poly Group was set up in the 1990s based on Poly Tech, an arms-manufacturing wing of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Mr. Li believes that “if Xi wants to position himself at the height of the party history, he must negate Jiang and Deng, so now he may be moving to crack down on their descendant families; he is likely to announce his definition of these issues at a political conference, for example, at the upcoming Third Plenary Session in July of this year, the earliest possible.”
Shi Shan, an expert on China issues and senior editor at The Epoch Times shared on “Pinnacle View” that Jiang Mianheng, who led the Shanghai Gang’s interest circle in the biotechnology system, has reaped a staggering windfall over decades.
“Prominent CCP families are usually related to large financial or holding companies through which the Princelings take the helm of high-tech, military, healthcare, and other vital fields in China. Therefore, the CCDI sending inspection teams to focus on these companies signals that the party’s top leadership is attempting to root out the Princelings’ influence.”
Mr. Li noted that a rumor in Beijing officialdom at the end of last year suggested that the financial sector could be one of the axes of the CCP’s anti-corruption scheme in 2024.
“If that is the case, then touching the financial sector is tantamount to touching the fundamental interests of this group of Princelings. At that time, their counterattack will be very, very fierce,” he said.
Guo Jun, the head of The Epoch Times’ Hong Kong branch, said on “Pinnacle View” that “in the early 1990s when Deng Xiaoping initiated China Economic Reform, many of China’s large state-owned enterprises were of Princeling background. For example, former vice president Wang Zhen’s family ran CITIC Group and Poly Group, Marshal of PLA Ye Jianying’s family engaged in China Carrie Enterprise Limited; former president Liu Shaoqi’s family operated China Everbright Group; Deng Xiaoping’s family had the Kanghwa Enterprise; and party patriarch Chen Yun’s family had the Zhongchuang Investment Company. Some of these companies may have closed down or changed their helmsmen; some even lost tens of billions of yuan in state assets due to poor management.”
“But the wealth accumulated in the hands of the Princelings was astronomical, and they went on to become major investors in China or to monopolize specific industries. It’s alleged that there are about two to three hundred red families in China whose wealth rivals that of a country.”
According to Ms. Guo, Xi Jinping is the son of Xi Zhongxun, an influential party figure in the first and second generations of CCP leadership. However, “Xi intends to override everything in China, and he has turned the party oligarchy into a personal dictatorship. As a part of efforts to eradicate his political enemies, Xi is stripping these red families of their financial resources.”
Ms. Guo said that “there have been many anti-Xi forces in Beijing. The internal strife between these Princelings will be the climax at the top echelon of the CCP.”
Political commentator Heng He said on “Pinnacle View” that “the problem for Xi is how to cope with those fractions who hold the economic power. Xi has already taken the initiative to strike, so let’s see how these princelings react. The next development of the communist regime is likely to be a scene of bloodshed political revolt, and that’s likely to happen.”
