Puzzled at the wealth of Chinese civil servants - Jiang Weiqiang and Focus Media edition
An old disclosure:
In March 2006, Weiqiang Jiang, the father of Jason Nanchun Jiang (the CEO/controller of Focus Media), provided a short-term loan to the Group of approximately $2.5 million to relieve a temporary shortage of Renminbi the Group experienced at that time. The loan is unsecured and was provided to us at no interest. The loan will become due and payable in full on June 30, 2006.
Now the only Jiang Weiqiang I can find works as a civil servant for one of the most powerful of Chinese departments - the State Council Information Office. Here is an English language CV:
Jiang Weiqiang
Director-General, International Bureau, State Council Information Office
Jiang Weiqiang and his State Council Information Office colleagues was set to play a leading role in Beijing's media courtship of Africa ahead of the fourth Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in November 2009. At the FOCAC Media Seminar in Beijing, 15-19 July, Jiang tried to develop a united front with African state media organisations. He insisted that the message of China-Africa cooperation should be taken directly to the people and not depend on Western media, which he described as anti-China and anti-Africa. Representatives from 27 African countries attended, as did Assistant Foreign Minister Zhai Jun and Liu Yunshan, Politburo member and Director of the Central Propaganda Department.
Trained as an engineer, Jiang entered the People's Liberation Army in 1970. While serving, he studied English at the Luoyang PLA College of Foreign Languages, responsible for training intelligence agents. In 1991, Jiang left the PLA to join the SCIO, the administration overseeing China's state media, including the People's Daily newspaper and Xinhua news agency. Xinhua is planning its own multi-billion dollar global and African media expansion.
My questions: is this the same Jiang Wieqiang? And if so (and it seems so) how does a Chinese civil servant come up with USD2.5 million to make an unsecured interest free loan to a business controlled by his son?
I seek help from anyone with a well-followed Weibo account. If this can be crowdsourced in China then I might get good answers.
Thanks in advance.
John