Taiwanese Businessman Invests in Mainland China and Exposes Dark Side of Chinese Communist Officials Online.

In recent days, a Taiwanese businessman revealed in a video online that he invested tens of millions of yuan to build a factory in his Hunan-native wife’s hometown, only to be miserably deceived by local officials. He accused the local officials of colluding with judges to embezzle private property. Now, he owes the local officials millions of yuan. This incident has caught the attention of netizens.

The video was posted by a Weibo user named “Tucao Bauliao,” where the Taiwanese businessman sought help as he was financially ruined by his investment in mainland China and had nowhere to turn for complaints.

According to him, his name is Zhang Yongfu, a resident of Changhua, Taiwan. In July 2005, he married Guan Manyun from Qidong County, Hengyang City, Hunan Province. In 2013, he went to Qidong County, Hengyang City for investment. In May 2015, they asked the local village secretary, Li Zhonghua, to build a factory, but the project has not been completed to this day.

Zhang Yongfu said, “By the end of 2016, Li Zhonghua sued us, demanding payment of 7.84 million yuan for the project and an annual interest rate of up to 24%. Even according to Li Zhonghua’s own request, we only owe him 5.32 million yuan for the principal part of the project, excluding the payments we had already made.”

However, judges from the two levels of courts in Qidong County and Hengyang City—Zeng Hui and Zhou Hong, treated the invalid contract that they themselves had recognized as a valid contract, fully supporting all the provisions in the invalid contract, especially Li Zhonghua’s demand for a high 24% annual interest rate. He said, “The illegal interest alone amounts to more than 6 million, pushing our family into the abyss completely.”

“We hired someone to build a factory for us, the factory is not even completed, but we didn’t get the building, and the land and factory were taken by others. We ended up with nothing. Where in the world is there such a lawsuit?” he said. “At present, our whole family is at a loss. After nearly ten years of hard work in Qidong, Hengyang, Hunan, investing over ten million yuan, now it’s all in vain.”

Previously, Zhang Yongfu’s Hunan-native wife, Guan Manyun, expressed her grievances on social media platforms such as Weibo.

Guan Manyun said, “In 2013, Secretary Lei Gaofei of Qidong County government in Hunan recruited me to invest over 10 million yuan back in Qidong Country, all under Li Zhonghua’s name. Now, even the factory I rented and the electricity have been cut off. Is it wrong for me to bring money back for investment? When a company comes back and suffers such great injustice, I wonder what the development zone leaders are doing?”

She once accused Liu Qiming, Director of the Qidong County Development Zone in Hengyang City, of not safeguarding the interests of Zhang Yongfu and Guan Manyun in the development zone but instead hiring legal advisers to help Li Zhonghua sue the two.

And a netizen quoted the speech of former Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin: “If you see good things from others, you must seize them for yourself; this is totally a robber’s logic.” The netizen said, “This statement is appropriate for the village secretary Li Zhonghua! Seeing the location of Royal Asia Company, he tried all means to take it through illegal methods! It may seem clever, but it is full of loopholes!”

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill for ByteDance to divest TikTok for national security reasons earlier this year. In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press conference, “If you see good things from others, you must try to take possession of them; this is entirely a robber’s logic.” Ironically, netizens have used his words to mock the Chinese Communist Party.

In recent years, many Taiwanese businessmen have chosen to invest and develop in mainland China, hoping to utilize the vast Chinese market for business growth. However, the risks faced by Taiwanese businessmen when doing business in mainland China are gradually being exposed. The case of Lu Hongjie is a typical example, prompting Taiwanese people to reconsider the risks and challenges of cross-border business.

According to a report by Taiwan’s Liberty Times last month, Lu Hongjie invested over 30 million yuan in creating the Wumu Art Museum in Chengdu, China in 2000. The museum officially opened to the public in 2011 and was given the title of a scientific education base by the city of Chengdu. Lu Hongjie focused on the research, excavation, and preservation of Wumu culture, collecting thousands of Wumu artifacts, becoming an authority in the industry. However, this successful Taiwanese businessman unexpectedly encountered a tragic incident.

Lu Hongjie returned to Taiwan a few months ago and mentioned to relatives and friends his desire to transfer his significant assets on the mainland back to Taiwan but faced numerous difficulties. Subsequently, Lu died due to an accident involving Wumu ceiling, and after his death, he was rapidly cremated, leaving people puzzled. Lu Hongjie’s substantial assets in the Wumu industry and business on mainland China are valuable. However, the vast assets may face the risk of being confiscated by the Chinese Communist Party due to Lu’s unexpected death.

The report mentioned that Mainland China is a place where personal rule is greater than the rule of law. To smoothly transfer funds and assets legally from China, one needs to maintain completely legal and proper procedures in land acquisition and transactions. However, many Chinese officials line their pockets during the handling of cases, leaving Taiwanese businessmen lacking legal protection when facing problems.