Beijing has overtaken New York for the first time to become the city with the most billionaires in the world. According to Forbes’ 2021 list of the world’s richest people, released in early April, Beijing has 100 billionaires, more than New York, which has 99.
Beijing’s richest are mostly engaged in technology, e-commerce, manufacturing, education, bio-manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, and real estate.
The richest person in Beijing is Zhang Yiming, founder and CEO of technology company ByteDance Ltd., with a fortune of $35.6 billion. Video sharing social platforms Douyin and TikTok, an overseas version of Douyin, are both products of the company.
The richest newcomer to Beijing’s new rich list is 34-year-old Wang Ning and his family. Wang made his fortune selling Blind Box, a kind of toy. His company Pop Mart was listed in Hong Kong in December.
ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming
Some of these Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-controlled companies are involved in Internet, cyberspace, and AI technologies and are of special concern to U.S. and international security.
On Sept. 25 last year, legal documents filed in court by The Department of Justice stated that ByteDance CEO Zhang Yiming is a “mouthpiece” of the CCP and that his company has close ties to the Beijing authorities, which endangers the security of Americans. The document said Zhang had made public statements that showed he was committed to advancing the CCP’s agenda.
Trump administration officials have said that while Zhang is not a member of the CCP, he publicly apologized to the regime in April 2018 for one of ByteDance’s apps, saying “the product went the wrong way and contained content that was not consistent with core socialist values.”
The Trump administration also submitted a separate document on Sept. 25 last year, pointing out that there’s a lot of evidence that ByteDance has close ties to the authorities in Beijing, and its Beijing office employs 130 CCP members.
Department of Justice officials said ByteDance is subject to the CCP’s laws, which could require the company to assist and monitor intelligence activities under the direction of the Party.
BY JESSICA MAO
