Reference Material: How Much Money Does Jiang Really Have?

[Editor's note: The following article was not written by a Falun Gong practitioner and does not necessarily represent the understanding of Falun Dafa practitioners.]

Dongxiang Magazine reported in its July edition that during the last few days of June, the standing committee of the Chinese Politburo reviewed a bill regarding the "Public Announcements of Political Party Cadre Members' Family Incomes, Possession of Properties, and Funds." The bill was submitted by the Central Government Discipline Inspection Committee and the Ministry of Supervision. The voting results of the standing committee of the Politburo on this bill was 4 in support, 2 against, with 3 abstaining. Therefore this item was for the fifth time set aside.

Why are the Party cadres so afraid of making public their own or their relatives' incomes, properties, and funding?

During Jiang's rule, the officials of the Party have been engaged in embezzlement, corruption, bribery, and diversion of government money. This phenomenon has been extremely serious. Jiang himself, along with his family members and many of his trusted subordinates, were deeply involved in embezzlement and corruption. For example, one of Jiang's very close subordinates, the incumbent President of Political Consultative Conference, Jia Qinglin, is closely connected to the notorious Yuan Hua case (a smuggling case in which many high-ranking Chinese officials were implicated). While in charge of Fujian Province, he diverted and embezzled 1.28 billion Yuan from the Fujian Provincial government, funds that were meant to be used to finance construction.

Zhou Zhengyi, (Shanghai's wealthiest person), and Hong Kong's Bank of China President Liu Jinbao have been detained and investigated by the Central Committee. These cases are directly related to the power struggles between factions in the Chinese leadership, connected to numerous past and current high-ranking officials in Shanghai, and also to the illegal activities of Jiang's oldest son, Jiang Mianheng. Since 1994, Jiang Mianheng has acquired many companies and bought much land. He quickly became "the telecommunications king," of Shanghai. For a while, he occupied a position as vice-dean of the Chinese Academy of Science. How much money did Jiang Mianheng really gain from his "special job," and how much of the nation's wealth did he actually embezzle?

Lately, it has been reported that in Dali Island, Indonesia, Jiang purchased a gigantic holiday mansion for himself. It was said that Jiang used his own money to purchase this mansion, but the Chinese government had given him 1 million dollars of subsidy.

Then, how much money does Jiang really have and where did it come from? This is a very important question. Clarifying this question is especially important in light of the current fight against corruption and bribery. The author of the article speculates that Jiang Zemin, together with his daughter and sons, possess enormous amounts of wealth. The previous president of the Philippines, Marcos, embezzled several hundred million American dollars during his term. The Chinese economy is of course bigger than the Philippine's. Embezzling in China is infamous, so it is not too far-fetched to assume that Jiang Zemin's diversion of funds by way of embezzlement and corruption has surpassed that of Marcos'.

Jiang is still clinging to his power and refuses to retire. Perhaps one of the important reasons is that he must hang onto the ability to use military force and influence to protect his family's plundering of large amounts of the country's assets. It is obvious that China's counter-embezzlement and counter-corruption policy is extremely difficult to put into effect under these conditions.