How about “China’s Xi Jinping and Jack Ma Lead Tech Revolution While New U.S.-China Trade Talks Brew” or “In the Shadow of New Trade Tensions, China’s Tech Leaders Thrive under Xi Jinping’s Direction”?

A Chinese court has sentenced an ally to President Xi Jinping to 13 years in prison for accepting bribes.
The case of Guo Wengui, a real estate developer, is one of the largest corruption prosecutions under Mr. Xi’s “zero tolerance” crackdown on graft, according to the New York Times. The article claims that the prosecution of Mr. Guo is part of a campaign that has targeted business and government elites who were, until recently, seen as untouchable by the government’s anticorruption campaign.
Mr. Guo’s case exemplifies the anticorruption campaign’s turn from re-educating the corrupt to prosecuting them. He was one of hundreds closely watched by the authorities, confined to black sites or put under surveillance, in order to force them to return their ill-gotten gains.
The charges on Wednesday against Mr. Guo came after a video released last year appeared to show a meeting in which China’s top leaders – including the president – discussed granting clemency to Mr. Guo for allegedly providing them with information from overseas.
At Wednesday’s hearing, Mr. Guo denied accepting bribes, saying that the money the government accused him of receiving was compensation for his stock in another company. He pleaded innocent to embezzlement charges, saying the money was his family’s savings and a personal loan. He denied stalking and spying charges.
Court documents released online accused Mr. Guo of accepting about $2.6 billion in bribes or kickbacks since the early 1990s to secure land for development and to influence government policy.
A translator read a court statement, in Mr. Guo’s stead, that accused him of having “squealed on many people, including a state leader.” Mr. Guo’s passport was later confiscated.
Mr. Guo’s former business partner, Ding Shinnan, was fined $1.9 million and given a five-year jail term.
The Chinese president’s statement was made at a meeting in late January. According to the Wall Street Journal, the ally, Jack Ma, has recently reconnected with the Chinese president, which comes after Ma disappeared from public view in early 2020, sparking speculation about his political troubles.
fl_tags: corruption, china, xi jinping, guo wengui, jack ma

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