The Chinese business tycoon revealing the secrets of Beijing's elite | 60 Minutes Australia

It is no news to say that the Chinese regime is insensitive. Anyone who criticizes Beijing does so at their own risk and can expect immediate and often harsh revenge, and it is not just foreigners who face the consequences. Desmond Shum is a Chinese

tycoon

once destined for the highest levels of the Communist Party, the

business

man could do no wrong until four years ago, when he and his equally prominent ex-wife fell inexplicably from grace. Now Desmond is a pariah of the state, so he decided to fight back by

revealing

The Many Secrets of China's Elite Leaders Foreign

business

magnate Desmond Shum is a marked man.

He currently lives in the UK with his 12-year-old son, a long way from China, but says that is no guarantee of safety after his unprecedented decision to publish a book detailing the disappearance of his ex-wife, billionaire Whitney Dewan. , in Beijing. He knows that telling his story will make him the target of one of the most brutal totalitarian regimes in the world. Desmond, thank you very much for speaking with us. His editors have been pretty paranoid. the security surrounding the place where you are currently speaking to me from, are you really worried about your safety? there are enough reasons to be worried about that when I decided to publish the book and then in the future I can basically use the word Sim live away.

Do you think even in the UK you are at risk? Is it possible for these people to reach out to you that way or is it being melodramatic? No, I think the way to look at it is to know that a State party can block. Locking a woman in a dark cell and throwing away the key for four years is capable of every evil, so I mean, you know, just before I came, I mean, in the last few days I was talking to my partner now and he I said, well, you know, come on. check our wheels if something happened to me make sure everything is fixed in 2017 Whitney Dewan, one of the richest women in China, became one of the countless missing from China under the reign of President Xi Jinping, celebrities, academics, figures from the media like Australian TV presenter Chiang Lai and Even China's richest man Jack Ma simply disappeared, his fate is a state secret until now and what happens to most of them, you know, it seems that maybe one or two years they come to light and then they are quite guilty of whatever it takes to stay is to accuse them. right, and then I think it's just a few, they're still in this guise, Desmond, any of the people you know, any of them were able to come back and be rehabilitated, so to speak, no, no, no one I know, it was once than you You've been taken, you kind of made it into the system and no one in the system wants to associate with you, so it's not a system where you can be forgiven.

No, no, once you're out, you're usually out. Desmond Shum has been involved in business. at the highest levels of communist China and he is

revealing

for the first time a system where money means nothing, billionaires are expendable and blood ties to the Communist Party are valued above all else. What do you think Whitney is worth? What would be her net worth? billion two or three billion then money alone in this system in China cannot protect you money does not count for anything your bloodline you are being a rat in a script the bloodline protects you everyone else is expendable everyone the others are expendable so if you are not related to others in the Party Machine in the Communist Party of a generation of two generations before, you are already on the defensive, yes, you may have a good trip, you may not You have a good right and the deadline to tie the meter. because for nothing you control and that is, obviously, you know that her case exemplified that if they could just take her and make her disappear with her context at their level, then absolutely no one would be safe before things got worse, they were very, very good at Desmond and Whitney. they built China's largest air cargo logistics facility and had lucrative real estate interests.

Whitney was not part of the communist establishment, but rather she was a self-made businesswoman extremely skilled at cultivating and maintaining relationships with communist officials that were critical to the success of any business. contacts reached the top your key ally was the wife of the former second minister in charge of China, Wen Zhao Bao, when you were doing business in China, when you and your ex-wife were building your business. Yeah, did you ever think during all that time that you were connected to party officials that she or you might be in physical danger, not really, I mean, in the back of my head, you know, I always get the feeling that there's a danger involved when you're at this level, uh, but no.

Really, so we were very careful, you know, during, during, our, during, so, you know, some officials because they are so blatantly corrupt and you know, and we just avoided them because you know we don't want to get carried away with what they. what we're doing and we always want to make absolutely sure that we know that we're not going to get caught up in this kind of system, so while you were making all that money you were very aware of the underlying corruption and you made sure that you were not part of that, yeah , but everything changed for Desmond and Whitney when Xi Jinping came to power and cracked down on corruption and political rivals by then their relationship as a couple had ended and Desmond moved to London with their young son, Whitney urged.

She wanted to leave China, but she refused in 2017. Whitney disappeared from the streets of Beijing. There was no acknowledgment that her government had taken her or any legal charge. She thought she was protected and there was simply too much trust in the system, so her ex-wife starts it. with the right contact and that contact then becomes slightly direct with G and then your ex wife is in trouble this must all be a very Machiavellian game the loyalties must change very quickly and behind the scenes yes absolutely absolutely especially with Xi Jinping that the harshness of his regime took a different course and a different speed, and I think that really makes this whole system more lethal.

Desmond didn't hear anything from Whitney or anyone else about her fate for four years, that is, until a couple of weeks ago. on the eve of the publication of his book, let me get this straight, your ex-wife is kidnapped, she literally disappears out of nowhere four years later, she is suddenly released, yes, that's exactly what happened, it's a miraculous thing and they're kind. It's very coincidental, if I say it slightly right, Whitney called you for the first time in four years when she made that call to you. What did she say? One of the richest women in China.

Whitney Duran disappeared from the streets of Beijing in 2017 and was neither seen nor heard from. in four years, that is, until her ex-husband, Desmond Shum, defied the repressive regime and took the enormous personal risk of writing a book highlighting her disappearance. Her fears for her safety were confirmed days before the book was scheduled to be published. I received a chilling phone call. Whitney called you for the first time in four years when she made that call. What did she say? I think the purpose of the cause asked me to stop the release of the book. That's exactly what she said and you assumed during the call. that I was being monitored yes, in fact, I asked her that and then I got excited, I said, you know, obviously, you're telling me things because they asked you to, yes, she's saying no, no, no, no, but come on, I said , I told. she your phone number was dead for four years you are unreachable what the day after your temporary release you said she used to sign a temporary release document your funk is viable and you call you can call anyone anywhere in the world other than China Were there any clues for you as to whether it was or could have been a prepared script?

Yes, yes, because she asked the question, she said what would happen to our son if something happened to you and then she followed up with the question: how would you feel? If something happened to our son, I mean, that's enough to threaten, so that was the first call on the second call, she was trying to frame me, she was like I, uh, I'm guilty of a crime and we were partners in life and in business, so you. she must also be guilty of the crime. I was too. No I dont think so. Tell her the name of the crime and she really can't name it.

And then at the end of the call, she has us formulate a sentence. She said, "Okay, you're moving forward with this project." she can cause a life uh and I got really angry and she essentially she was yelling at whoever she was listening to. I thought: what do you mean by the cause of life, what life are we talking about here? Are we talking about my life, our son's life or is it? It's your life, there's no doubt about that threat, the implication is that you could be responsible for your child's life if you go ahead and publish the book, yes, it's definitely implied, it's a terrible thing to say, yes, and then coming from The mother, where did she go? wrong, where did Whitney go wrong?

Desmond I guess most likely they are problems associated with the wrong crowd or the wrong way of power struggle and or maybe you should learn about something that is very inconvenient for leadership and then, but it's not a cry of So You're a nuisance, we'll just silence you and let the mature ones disappear. The number of missing and imprisoned people has skyrocketed under the reign of XI Jinping, including Australian television presenter Chiang Lai, who worked in China, has not been seen or heard from. in a year in which they are detained and it is simply not known what happens to them.

Chiang Lai, for example, is similar to his ex-wife Whitney. I mean, why doesn't making these women disappear degrades them in the eyes of the world in some way? What I assume out loud in this type of situation is that they want you to openly admit to a certain crime that they attribute to you and then those people do not comply, that is one possibility or the second is that they want you to give them certain information and you. You're not doing it and then the way they're doing it, you know, you know my Whitney well, you know in the first course, since you haven't had any information from the outside world for four years, think about it and your mother passed away. in June she didn't know that she didn't know that the pandemic lasted two years, the rest of the world for all of us, I mean, they intentionally cut off all information from the outside and then, as if time passed, for most people.

You lose hope because that's how things never end, right? They wanted. I'm fine, I'd tell you anything you wanted to attribute to us. I'll admit to any crime you want to give me, just give me closure, right? if you send it to me. 10 years or 15 years, I know, okay, 15 years I may be out, but in that situation you are desperate because there is no end in sight and you are not fully aware of what is happening other than what they are telling you, so it's a it's a it's a method of terrorizing the people that they have taken, their complete psychological control, yes, the regime's repression against perceived opponents is reminiscent of communist leaders of the past, home of Mahal.

Xi Jinping is behaving like an emperor who is preparing for the long haul and has no plans to do so. be overthrown Do you think we are entering a new era of authoritarianism? Oh yes, absolutely, we are there, right? I mean, the guy can just change the Constitution, his will and become president and party chairman for life, he'll do business in China forever. Be safe again Do you think that, as my book says, you roll the dice in roulette, you take a risk? The odds are getting worse and worse. It is now a warning to businesses in Australia.

Eager to get a piece of the lucrative Chinese market. The exercise of communist power is not limited to individuals but to Nations, as Australia knows only too well, the Communist Party has been punishing Australia and the Australian government since we dared to ask the world for an investigation into the origins of 19 covert. They are very paranoid so they want to crush All The Descent around the world, that could possibly be a challenge to their power and then they take on Australia because they feel they can afford it, they are not doing that to the US, but they wait until the day they do. the number one economic power, they will do the same thing to the USA, what they do to Australia, ultimately they want all countries to submit, but Desmond refuses to submit and through his story, he wants Let the world know the true cost of doing business in China.

You are now a prominent man for the rest of your life, anyone in any position of authority in China will see you as the ultimate Chinese traitor. I know I know you know, ironically, that I come to this moment because of my indoctrination as a child when I was a child I read Chinese communist comics and we were always told to sacrifice yourself for the greater good. I think I'm doing that and Desmond, what about Whitney? She is still the mother of your child. What will happen to her? her, I have no idea if the problem will be left out and will remain free, to the point that she is not in my hands, what does your son tell you?

Know,Dad, I'm talking to Mom for the first time in four years, she's only 12. Now how do you make sense of that? It's very, very personal, I mean the first phone call from her, I mean, I remember she was asking him how tall you are now, what your weight is now, you know, it's very touching, it's very touching. my son, I guess I mean, obviously this expansion of this experience will ultimately impact his personality and his character in the long run, I just don't know what it's going to be like, that's hard for you as a parent too, yeah, you've got it all.

It means that you have all the money in the world and yet you can't get her out. Can't you do anything to get her out and get her to be with your son? No, that's it, there is nothing more to attract attention. of the world and put my focus on it, that's the best I can do. Hi, I'm Tara Brown, thanks for watching 60 Minutes Australia. Subscribe to our channel now to get new stories and exclusive clips every week and don't miss our bonus minute segments and full 60 minute episodes on 9now.com and the nine Now app