Chinese tycoon who ‘quarrelled’ with party is jailed for 18 years
A CHINESE businessman who was an outspoken critic of the Communist Party has been jailed for 18 years as the latest high-profile executive targeted in a crackdown on dissent.
Sun Dawu, who made his fortune in animal husbandry, was found guilty of eight charges including “picking quarrels and provoking troubles”, a charge used frequently to pursue dissidents and human rights activists.
He was one of the few to accuse the Chinese government of attempting to cover up the extent of African swine flu, which infected one of his farms in 2019 and decimated the country’s pig population.
The crisis was so serious that Chinese authorities had to tap into the nation’s strategic reserves to ensure a continued supply of pork, one of the nation’s most popular meats.
The case for which Mr Sun was on trial was linked to a land dispute with a local government-owned farm, according to media reports. Employees of his company, Dawu Group, tried to petition local regulators to assist in resolving the dispute. However, the authorities detained him instead, as well as some of his relatives and employees.
Mr Sun worked for a state-owned bank before launching his own business – starting with 50 pigs and 1,000 chickens – and building it into an agricultural empire with thousands of employees. The billionaire farmer is the latest to fall foul of Beijing as it intensifies its campaign against critics of the ruling Communist Party. His arrest is one of many signs displaying the Chinese government’s increasing intolerance of dissent at any level – including well-known business executives.
Mr Sun’s lengthy sentence comes as China seeks to exert greater control over the private sector at a time when many Chinese companies have grown exponentially, with some seeking to list publicly overseas.
Along with a spate of new regulations for the technology and education industries, China has also handed down multibillion-dollar fines to major firms like Alibaba, the e-commerce company – a message that Beijing won’t allow any corporation or individual to gain too much influence or compete with the party.
Last year, Ren Zhiqiang, a retired property mogul, was sentenced to 18 years’ prison after he penned an essay online accusing Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, of mishandling the Covid outbreak, and calling him “a clown”.
It was a bold move for Chinese authorities to go after a well-regarded party member with ties to the political elite, signalling that the government would continue muzzling critical voices.
In 2018, another Chinese tycoon, Wu Xiaohui – who was chairman of a major insurance firm that purchased New York’s legendary Waldorf Astoria hotel – was also sentenced to 18 years amid allegations that he had defrauded investors.
At the time, experts viewed Mr Wu’s downfall as part of a wider campaign to reassert control over private companies that had ramped up the purchase of assets abroad, contributing to the flight of capital and potentially undermining domestic financial stability.