Entrepreneurs say they are being harassed by the Chinese government

When state-run newspaper China Daily reported the death of beverage tycoon Zhong Qinghou late last month, it pointed out that the billionaire’s penniless-to-riches story echoed the story of the country itself. The era of reform and opening up saw China achieve explosive economic growth and open its market to the world.

Many of Zhong’s mourners cast him as both a symbol of China’s success and an exemplary entrepreneur in what was still officially a communist nation. But his death underscores how difficult it will be for anyone to match his accomplishments today, in a country with an economic slump and a nation that appears hostile to private enterprise under President Xi Jinping. There are some too.

“If the private sector does not recover, China’s national economy will collapse,” said Sun Jinliang, a Chinese entrepreneur seeking asylum in Canada.

Mr. Sun is one of the founders of the Alliance Association for the Protection of the Rights and Interests of Chinese Private Entrepreneurs. The organization is a newly formed Canadian-based organization that aims to speak up for Chinese businessmen and those expelled from China. It threatens the country with repression, local corruption, and government harassment.

In an interview with the Globe and Mail, the founders said they wanted to file a lawsuit against Chinese officials and institutions in the International Court of Human Rights. They also plan to lobby for international Magnitsky sanctions, which would target foreign government officials accused of human rights abuses or complicity in gross corruption by many countries, including Canada.

“On a small scale, we aim to pursue individual justice, but on a larger scale, we want to promote China’s democratic and human rights processes,” said Louis Huang, a Vancouver-based human rights activist and co-founder. “I think so,” he said. .

Sun founded a successful real estate investment company in his home province of Jiangxi, but ran into trouble with local officials, who accused him and his brother Sun Bocheng of ties to organized crime. he said. At the time, the brothers were living in Hong Kong with their families.

In May 2020, police in Jiangxi province launched a major crackdown, arresting more than 70 people. Sun said about 10 members of her family were arrested, including his sister, another brother and her girlfriend’s spouse. His brothers were subsequently imprisoned for three to five years, he said.

A few weeks later, China issued Sun Bocheng with an Interpol red notice, and he was subsequently arrested in Croatia. San spent years fighting his extradition case, which eventually reached the Croatian Supreme Court, which ordered his release in February 2022. The court said in its ruling that Chinese authorities had provided insufficient evidence against Mr. Son “despite requests for additional documents.”

China, along with Russia, has long been accused of abusing Interpol’s alert system to target dissidents abroad, and activists in many countries have called for an end to extradition agreements with Beijing. I’m looking for it. In October 2022, the European Court of Human Rights ruled against Poland’s extradition of Chinese citizen Liu Hongtao, who was detained on a red notice, on human rights grounds, in a ruling that could affect extradition cases to China in all 46 member states. I stopped it. of the court.

“Extraditing individuals to China puts them at grave risk of torture and other inhuman and degrading treatment,” said Laura Haas, campaign director at European-based rights group Safeguard Defenders. That is already well known.”

He said that while there are undoubtedly criminals among the fugitives China is looking for, “if countries want to be able to support this kind of judicial cooperation rather than other judicial cooperation, they should consider their own It is up to the Chinese government to bring the system in line with minimum international standards.” around the road. “

“It is the opacity and politicization of the judicial system by the Chinese authorities that makes it nearly impossible for an outsider to conduct an independent assessment of the facts,” Haas added.

Sun Jinliang said the accusations against him and his family were “groundless.” He said he believed Jiangxi authorities were trying to seize his assets by accusing him of a three-party affair, and said he was not the only one targeted in this way.

Mike Gao, a New York-based immigration lawyer and general counsel for the association, said he has seen an increase in cases involving Chinese businessmen accused of ties to organized crime. If convicted, these people could face the death penalty, and there are few lawyers in China willing to take on such serious cases, he said.

Like Mr. Son, Mr. Gao believed that the real motive of local authorities in carrying out such prosecutions was “to deprive these entrepreneurs of their assets.”

As a result of the national economic downturn and massive spending in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, many local governments in China are deeply in debt and struggling to pay for basic services.

Last month, the local government in the city of Shuicheng in southern China’s Guizhou province took to the internet after news broke of the arrest of Ma Yiyi, an entrepreneur who tried to recover tens of millions of dollars owed to her in a series of construction contracts. faced massive backlash. .

Ma was accused of “picking fights and provoking trouble,” a blanket crime that even China’s highest court acknowledged was “overused” at the local level.

“Is this an attempt to use criminal penalties to settle debts?” asked one person on a social media account affiliated with the state-run China News Agency. “The authorities should provide a more detailed explanation.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Guizhou government said it would “take strict responsibility for acts that infringe on the legitimate interests of private entrepreneurs” and pledged to do so.

The controversy comes as China’s leaders prepare to meet in Beijing this week for the annual meeting of the country’s rubber-stamp parliament, where economic conditions will be top of the agenda. Factory activity slowed for the fifth consecutive month in February, according to figures released on March 1, and the country’s stock market is also struggling due to a real estate downturn and widespread decline in confidence.

Influential Chinese commentator Hu Xijin posted on social media that authorities across China will “do everything in their power to revitalize the economy and increase the income of ordinary people, while at the same time easing the government’s strained finances.” ” said there is a need.

Li Jianfeng, a former Chinese judge who now lives in Vancouver, said he focused on cases of persecution experienced by Chinese entrepreneurs, including heads of publicly traded companies. Mr. Li, a former judge of the Economic Division of the Ningde Intermediate People’s Court in Fujian Province, said there are many ways for local governments to pursue entrepreneurs.

He said that if private companies strictly adhered to tax laws and regulations, many companies would find it difficult to operate, be forced to engage in questionable activities or outright illegal activities, and lose the support of local authorities. He said it would be easier to prosecute business owners in cases of

Mr. Sun said he has been in touch with many other Chinese businessmen living overseas and that all have “made great contributions to China’s economy.”

“For the past few decades, we have been afraid of the government. We have been threatened, we have compromised, we have tolerated, but what has been the result?” he said.

“I believe more expat entrepreneurs will heed this call, come forward and reveal the truth.”