In Xi Jinping’s China, success is getting more dangerous

DENG Xiaoping, the grandfather of China’s economic transformation, liked to say it didn’t matter what colour a corporate feline was – state-owned or private – as long as it caught mice. In the Xi Jinping era, being a privately owned fat cat is getting increasingly dangerous.

The latest evidence of that came on Thursday, when the respected online financial magazine Caixin reported that the chairman of the acquisitive privately held conglomerate CEFC China Energy, Ye Jianming, is under investigation. That comes less than a week after hard-charging financial firm Anbang Insurance Group was placed under state management, with its chairman, Wu Xiaohui, suspected of “economic crimes.”