Chinese-Canadian billionaire

A Chinese-born Canadian billionaire who disappeared from a Hong Kong hotel in 2017 goes on trial in China Monday, the Canadian Embassy in Beijing said in a ...

Some information in this report came from Reuters, Agence France-Presse, and The Associated Press. A Chinese-born Canadian billionaire who disappeared from a Hong Kong hotel in 2017 goes on trial in China Monday, the Canadian Embassy in Beijing said in a statement. “Canadian consular officials are monitoring this case closely, providing consular services to his family and continue to press for consular access,” the statement said.

The business tycoon was allegedly kidnapped from Hong Kong by Chinese agents in 2017 and ferried across the border to mainland China, where he has been held ...

Mr. Xiao has not been heard from since that day in 2017, even as authorities have gradually dismantled his former empire, selling off assets and nationalizing companies linked to the financier’s Tomorrow Group. “After five years of quietly waiting, our family is still, based on my brother’s strict instructions, putting faith in the Chinese government and Chinese law. Speaking to The Globe earlier this year, former ambassador to China Guy Saint-Jacques said Beijing “has stonewalled all requests for consular access.” A reporter who visited the court could not find any evidence of the trial being held. Just after 1 a.m. on Jan. 27, 2017, a team of plainclothes agents working for the Chinese government entered Mr. Xiao’s apartment in Hong Kong. Two hours later, they emerged, pushing Mr. Xiao in a wheelchair to a waiting vehicle, which spirited him across the border. After the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, Mr. Xiao abandoned plans to go into politics, choosing instead to focus on business and becoming a devotee of Warren Buffett. By the time of his disappearance, he was worth an estimated $4.5-billion. When Chinese President Xi Jinping began a much-vaunted anti-corruption campaign, Mr. Xiao gradually reduced the amount of time he spent in mainland China, choosing instead to operate primarily out of a luxury apartment in Hong Kong, where he was occasionally the focus of local paparazzi. Mr. Xiao’s name did not appear in any dockets for the Shanghai court Monday, and when The Globe phoned to inquire about his trial, staff demanded the name of the judge in charge before they would divulge any information. We hope the authorities can give our family an acceptable conclusion,” Mr. Xiao’s elder brother, Xiao Xinhua, told the Journal, adding that the case was “very complicated and full of drama.” The Globe reached out to Canadian diplomats in China and several others connected to the case but was unable to determine if the hearing had taken place, with sources either not responding or saying they were equally in the dark. A source familiar with the case told The Globe that a hearing would be held in Shanghai on Monday morning, which was subsequently confirmed by Global Affairs Canada. Late Sunday, a department spokeswoman said Ottawa was “aware a trial in the case of a Canadian citizen, Mr. Xiao Jianhua, will take place on July 4, 2022.” A Chinese-Canadian billionaire who was snatched in Hong Kong and taken to China five years ago was due to go on trial in Shanghai on Monday, two sources told The Globe and Mail. But almost a day later, it remained unclear if the hearing had actually taken place, adding to the mystery surrounding a case that has confounded observers for years.

BEIJING (AP) -- A Chinese-born Canadian tycoon is being put on trial in China, Canada's government said Monday, five years after he vanished from.

But an advertisement in the Ming Pao newspaper in Xiao's name the same week denied he was taken against his will. The ruling party imposed a national security law in 2020 and has imprisoned pro-democracy activists. At that time, Chinese police were prohibited from operating in Hong Kong, which has a separate legal system.

Missing tycoon Xiao Jianhua was scheduled to face a Shanghai courtroom on Monday, more than five years after the billionaire financier was snatched from a ...

A Chinese-born Canadian tycoon is being put on trial in China, Canada's government said Monday, five years after he vanished from Hong Kong during an ...

Xiao is being put on trial in China, Canada's government said Monday, July 4, 2022, five years after he vanished from Hong Kong during an anti-corruption crackdown. At that time, Chinese police were prohibited from operating in Hong Kong, which has a separate legal system. Xiao Jianhua, a Chinese-born Canadian billionaire talks to reporters outside the International Finance Centre in Hong Kong in Dec., 2013.

The case of Xiao Jianhua epitomizes the ruling Communist Party's efforts to rein in an earlier era of freewheeling capitalism.