Xi Jinping's family holds around a billion dollars in business interests

Chinese President Xi Jinping's family still holds around a billion dollars in business interests and financial investments.

- BY S VENKAT NARAYAN

This may be so despite his relatives probably divesting some of their holdings after he became leader in 2012, a United States intelligence agency said in an unclassified report released last Thursday.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), led by Tulsi Gabbard, released the report. It is titled "Wealth and Corrupt Activities of the Leadership of the Chinese Communist Party."

The report suggests that Xi's hidden wealth could be around $1 billion, with assets distributed among family members, including his wife, Peng Liyuan, and daughter, Xi Mingze. The majority of these assets are reportedly held by Xi's elder sister, Qi Qiaoqiao, her husband, Deng Jiagui, and their daughter, Zhang Yannan.

In 2012, Bloomberg News reported that Xi's extended family had amassed assets totalling approximately $376 million, encompassing investments in sectors like rare earth minerals and real estate.

However, no direct links were established between these assets and Xi or his immediate family.

The report noted that after journalistic research emerged in 2012 about the families of then-Premier Wen Jiabao and Xi having amassed significant wealth, "Xi may have urged family members to divest holdings as he came into power."