State terrorism

China has a worrying habit of making business leaders disappear
by Sherisse Pham

The mystery of disappearing Chinese tycoons

A TOP EXECUTIVE SUDDENLY DROPPING OFF THE RADAR WOULD BE ALARMING FOR ANY COMPANY. BUT IN CHINA, IT'S BECOME A DISTURBINGLY FAMILIAR SITUATION.
The latest example is Wu Xiaohui, the chairman of a major insurance company that owns the Waldorf Astoria in New York and recently held talks with the Kushner family over a Manhattan office tower.
He is reported to have been detained by authorities on Friday as part of a government investigation. His company, Anbang Insurance Group, said in a short statement that Wu "cannot perform his duties due to personal reasons."
His abrupt absence follows a string of cases in recent years in which business leaders were unceremoniously yanked from their duties by authorities, leaving employees and shareholders in the dark.
In 2015, senior executives from dozens of Chinese companies disappeared. 

Some returned to their posts, others did not.
The driving forces appeared to be Xi Jinping's crackdown on corruption as well as government investigations into China's stunning stock market crash in the summer of 2015.
Last year was relatively quiet, but a new push now seems to be unfolding ahead of an important meeting of China's political elite in the fall. 

Earlier this year, the head of the country's stock market watchdog reportedly vowed to capture more tycoons engaged in market manipulation.
Here are three of the most high-profile cases from the past 18 months:

Nabbed from the Four Seasons
Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua was seized from his apartment at the Four Seasons hotel in Hong Kong and taken to mainland China in late January, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Xiao controls the Tomorrow Group, a massive holding company with stakes in banks, insurers and property developers.

Xiao Jianhua

Days after he went missing, a front page ad published in a Hong Kong newspaper muddied the waters by appearing to deny he had been seized.
The statement, which had Xiao's name printed at the bottom, said that he was "recuperating overseas" and hoped to meet with media once he had recovered.
Nearly five months later, it's unclear what's happened to him.

China's Warren Buffett
Chinese conglomerate Fosun Group's investments include Club Med, Cirque de Soleil and Thomas Cook. 

Its chairman, Guo Guangchang, has been dubbed the Warren Buffett of China.
But Guo's fame and fortune did not save him from going missing for several days at the end of 2015. Fosun suspended trading of its shares after his sudden disappearance.

Guo Guangchang

When Guo finally resurfaced, the company said in a statement that he had been assisting officials with investigations.
His brief absence didn't derail Fosun's business. 

The company pulled in $11 billion in revenue last year.

Clothing tycoon
Zhou Chengjian, the billionaire founder of one of China's leading clothing companies, went missing in January last year.
After reports that Zhou had been detained by authorities, his company, Metersbonwe suspended trading of its shares.

Zhou Chengjian

The textile tycoon suddenly returned to work 10 days later.
The company gave no details about his disappearance.

Peking opera

Disappearance of Chinese Billionaire Alarms Financial Sector
By Yifan Xie in Shanghai and Josh Chin in Beijing

The Tomorrow Group building in Beijing. The group’s founder is missing and stocks connected to his business empire were battered on Friday. 

The disappearance of Chinese billionaire Xiao Jianhua, one of several prominent financial figures who have gone missing since China’s 2015 stock-market crash, is sending shivers through China’s financial sector.
The uncertainty surrounding Xiao’s whereabouts sent stocks related to his business tanking Friday as trading resumed after the Lunar New Year holiday. 

Trading volume on the Shanghai market dropped to its lowest level in more than a year amid tepid sentiment further hurt by liquidity concerns.
Speculation over Xiao’s absence erupted earlier this week with unconfirmed reports that he had been abducted in Hong Kong by Chinese law-enforcement agents. 

Hong Kong police said on Wednesday they had asked mainland authorities for more information after determining Xiao, a Hong Kong resident, had crossed into China on Jan. 27.
The news came a week after Xu Xiang, a star Chinese fund manager was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison for stock manipulation, the highest-profile investor convicted after a summer of stock-market turmoil in 2015 wiped out a year’s worth of gains and roiled global markets.
“In a weak market, investors are very scared about any kind of uncertainty,” said Shen Zhengyang, an analyst at Northeast Securities, saying that Xiao’s sway over the market is “on a much larger scale than Xu Xiang’s.”
Xiao, who claims he models his approach on U.S. stock wizard Warren Buffett, is the founder of Tomorrow Holding, a sprawling web of investments from insurance and real estate to beet farming. After graduating from the Peking University in 1990 while still a teenager, Xiao dazzled the market by investing in unknown brokerage firms, banks and insurers just before they took off.
Now in his mid-40s, Xiao was No. 32 on the Hurun Report’s latest list of China’s wealthiest individuals with an estimated personal fortune of $6 billion.
In a brief statement late Thursday, Tomorrow Holding said the company and its subsidiaries were “operating normally.” 

It didn’t offer any news about Xiao’s status and the statement didn’t prevent shares of firms in which it has significant stakes from plummeting on Friday.
Xishui Strong Year Co. Ltd Inner Mongolia, a cement producer and insurance provider, and Baotou Huazi Industry Co., which produces sugar and electronic parts, both dropped the 10% maximum. Baotou Tomorrow Technology Co. Ltd., a chemical firm, was down 5%, the cap for shares identified as at risk for delisting.
At an aging building in a technology park in northwestern Beijing, identified as Tomorrow Holding’s address in regulatory filings, guards refused to let a reporter move past the lobby Friday afternoon.
A notice posted at the entrance of the building said Tomorrow Holding “has not received any notice requiring it to cooperate with a legal investigation.” 

It threatened legal action against media and others who spread rumors about the company.
Earlier in the week, the company posted, then deleted, two statements attributed to Xiao saying the China-born financier has a Canadian passport and was receiving medical treatment abroad. 

The second statement, in which Xiao proclaimed his loyalty to the Communist Party, also appeared as a full-page ad in Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper on Wednesday.
A number of high-profile Chinese businessmen have gone missing for various lengths of time since Xi Jinping’s pledge to sweep away corruption four years ago.
Several property and energy moguls disappeared in 2013 in connection with an investigation into powerful former security czar Zhou Yongkang, who was sentenced to life in prison for corruption in 2015.
After the 2015 stock-market rout, authorities detained around a dozen securities-industry executives, accusing some of “malicious short selling,” including Xu Xiang, the founder of Shanghai-based Zexi Investment Co.
He and two others pleaded guilty in December to using hundreds of trading accounts to manipulate the stocks of dozens of companies. 

He hasn’t spoken publicly since being arrested in 2015.
Guo Guangchang, chairman of financial conglomerate Fosun International, briefly disappeared in late 2015. 

He hasn’t given details of his absence beyond saying he was assisting authorities with an unspecified investigation.
Heather Hsu, a private-equity fund manager at Shanghai Beaconbridge Investment said that even though little is known about why Xiao went missing, his disappearance recalls Mr. Guo’s.
“His absence can’t be simply a business matter,” Ms. Hsu said
Tomorrow Holding has been in the limelight before. 

In June 2008, the online edition of People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, questioned the company’s role in the listing of Pacific Securities. 

The small, Yunnan-based broker went public on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2007, bypassing the long queue for initial public offerings despite suffering two consecutive years of losses. 

Pacific Securities was controlled by Tomorrow Holding prior to its listing.
In response to a 2014 report by the New York Times that Xiao has helped broker deals for members of China’s political elite, including relatives of Xi Jinping, Tomorrow Holding denied that the financier’s wealth stemmed from political connections.
“Almost all of China’s top-tier investors are politically influential,” said Brock Silvers, managing director at Kaiyuan Capital, a Shanghai investment advisory firm. 

Compared with Fosun’s Guo, who was the top decision maker behind its many deals, Xiao has kept a low profile, he said.
Calls to Xishui Strong, Baotou Tomorrow Technology, and Baotou Huazi went unanswered Friday. The website of Tomorrow Holding wasn’t accessible. 

The firm didn’t respond to calls and emails seeking comments.

Mystery Surrounds Whereabouts of Chinese Tycoon

Hong Kong police investigate after speculation billionaire Xiao Jianhua was abducted.
By JOSH CHIN in Beijing and CHESTER YUNG in Hong Kong

Xiao Jianhua is a finance tycoon who had been living in Hong Kong. 

Hong Kong police waded into a mystery surrounding the whereabouts of a Chinese billionaire on Wednesday, saying they had asked mainland authorities for more information after determining the businessman crossed the border into China.
The police probe came after speculation the billionaire, Xiao Jianhua, a finance tycoon who had been living in Hong Kong, had been abducted by Chinese agents. 

The reports rekindled concerns over threats to the independence of the city’s legal system, which bars such operations. 

Many in Hong Kong were rattled last year when local bookseller Lee Bo, a British citizen, was seized by Chinese agents and taken to the mainland.
Xiao is the founder of Tomorrow Holding Ltd. Co, also known as Tomorrow Group, a Beijing-based holding company with investments in areas ranging from real estate to agriculture. 

The Hurun Report ranked Xiao, who is in his mid-40s, as No. 32 on its latest list of China’s wealthiest individuals with an estimated personal fortune of $6 billion.
China’s financial media frequently marvel at the quick rise of Xiao, who graduated from Peking University in 1990 while still a teenager. 

Several news organizations, including the Communist Party’s flagship newspaper People’s Daily, have referred to him as xiaoxiong, a play on his name that describes someone who is uncommonly ambitious and formidable.

Xiao Jianhua
Reports by Bloomberg in 2012 and the New York Times in 2014 said Xiao has helped broker deals for members of China’s political elite, including relatives of Xi Jinping. 

In a public statement in response to the New York Times profile, Tomorrow Group denied that the financier’s wealth stemmed from political connections, saying instead he made money by studying the methods of American investor Warren Buffett.
In the same statement, the company spoke about Xiao’s decision not to join the 1989 student protests around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, saying the aggressiveness of the protesters led him to avoid politics and instead concentrate on his studies.
Disquiet over Xiao’s fate is likely to spread further if it emerges that Xiao, a well-connected businessman, was subject to the same treatment as Lee, the bookseller, in a city long celebrated as a capitalist sanctuary. 

Lee returned after three months and gave few details of his absence beyond saying he had gone to the mainland voluntarily to assist in an investigation
Concern around Xiao’s whereabouts was reported to Hong Kong police on Saturday, though police declined to say by whom. 

It set off a whirlwind of speculation. 

Some Chinese media, including the website of the state-run Securities Daily newspaper, dismissed as rumors reports that he had been abducted.
One of Xiao’s relatives reported to police on Sunday that the businessman told his family he was safe, according to Hong Kong police, which said that the investigation would proceed nonetheless.
Securities Daily and others quoted a statement posted Monday to Tomorrow Group’s public account on the WeChat messaging app that said Xiao was “recuperating overseas.” 

The Securities Daily article was no longer accessible by Wednesday morning.
Another statement posted to Tomorrow Group’s WeChat account on Tuesday explicitly denied that Xiao had been abducted, describing the Chinese government as "civilized" and "law-abiding".

It also said he is a Canadian citizen with permanent-resident status in Hong Kong. 

Both statements were attributed to Xiao himself.
“I’m a patriotic overseas Chinese. I’ve always loved the Communist Party and the nation and have never participated in any activity that harmed the interests of the country or the image of the government,” read the statement, which was reprinted as a full-page ad in Hong Kong’s Ming Pao newspaper on Wednesday. 

“Nor have I supported any hostile forces or organizations.”
By Wednesday, the two posts had been deleted from Tomorrow Group’s WeChat account. 

Calls and emails to Tomorrow Group went unanswered. 

The company’s website was also unavailable.
The Canadian consulate in Hong Kong said it had contacted authorities for more information and to provide assistance. 

It said it couldn’t release further information because of privacy concerns.
An official in the press office of China’s Ministry of Public Security said the office couldn’t process requests for comment during the Lunar New Year holiday. 

Calls to the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office went unanswered.
A number of high-profile businessmen have gone missing since Xi vowed to sweep away corruption four years ago. 

One notable example is Hua Bangsong, the founder of refinery designer Wison Engineering Services Co., who was detained by investigators in 2013 and sentenced in 2015 to three years in prison for bribery. 

Days after he was detained, he made his debut on the Hurun Report rich list at No. 335 with an estimated worth of $900 million.
Others reappeared after brief periods in government custody. 

They include Guo Guangchang, the billionaire founder of conglomerate Fosun Group, who disappeared briefly in December 2015. 

The company said Mr. Guo had been assisting authorities with an unspecified investigation.
In April 2015, property developer Kaisa Group Holdings welcomed back chairman Kwok Ying Shing less than four months after he resigned and disappeared amid speculation of his involvement in a corruption probe in the southern city of Shenzhen. 

Neither Mr. Guo nor Mr. Kwok have given details from their time away from the public view.