Chinese billionaire who bought 3 shopping malls within 2 years in B.C. said she’s not a CCP white glove
Weihong Liu (刘伟宏) also said she never bribed any government officials and talked about the prospect of running for office in Canada.
Weihong Liu (刘伟宏), a Chinese businesswoman who purchased three shopping malls in British Columbia within two years, made a new round of splash in the Chinese Canadian Community with a recent interview with 56 Below TV (零下56), a YouTube channel in Canada operated by Chinese immigrant Dong Nan (东南).
The interview took place in June 2023 in Liu’s 20,000-square-foot mansion in Vancouver, right beside the campus of UBC. In the interview, Liu openly refuted several rumours about her, including allegations:
1) that she’s the niece of PLA officer Huaqing Liu (刘华清)；
2) that she’s the mistress of a high-level government official; and
3) that she’s a white glove (白手套) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Found in Translation cannot verify the claims in the interview but the YouTube episode is highly informative and very worth watching. Equally worthwhile is the comment area, which can be read with the aid of Google Translate for non-Chinese readers.
Liu denied the claim of being a CCP white glove but fiercely defended CCP leader Xi Jinping
Liu, 57, is a billionaire originally from mainland China.
Before she immigrated to Canada in 2014, she was a real estate developer in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. Liu was well-known in China for having publicly punched Qin Xingmei (秦兴梅), a female journalist who reported on the problems about one of Liu’s real estate projects in 2012.
In the YouTube interview in June 2023, Liu was dubbed “the wealthiest Chinese billionaire in Vancouver”, which she didn’t deny.
During the past few years, Liu made national headlines in Canada for purchasing a slew of commercial properties in B.C. including the Woodgrove Centre in Nanaimo in September 2020, the Mayfair Centre in Victoria in May 2021 and the Tsawwassen Mills in Delta in May 2022. Three deals cost a total of approximately $858 million. In addition, Liu bought the Arbutus Ridge Golf Club in Cobble Hill north of Victoria in 2019 for $4.5 million.
In the interview with 56 Below TV, Liu said a Vancouverite claimed she was a white glove of the CCP, and she simply dismissed this speculation without much explanation.
A white glove, a term originally from the Chinese language, refers to an intermediary or an organization that launders illicit corrupt money under a seemingly legitimate front, just like dirty hands concealed by a pair of white gloves.
Liu also denied a couple of other rumours regarding her personal background. She said she grew up in a poor family and had to drop out of high school in order to make money. Her success, according to chats in the footage, was earned through hard work and her love for reading. As for allegations of her being someone’s lover or the niece of PLA officer Huaqing Liu, Ms. Liu expressed her stance with a disgusted face.
Huaqing Liu is a CCP top official and an Admiral of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) who served as the top commander of the troops enforcing martial law to clamp down on the pro-democracy protest in Beijing during the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre.
Ms. Liu, however, admitted she’s indeed a member of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC, 政协委员).
The CPPCC is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China and a central part of the CCP's united front system.
Liu defended her decision to join the CPPCC in the interview, “If I hadn’t joined the CPPCC, I would have been crushed to death (by business rivals or other forces)!”
Liu talked about her personal experience as a self-made entrepreneur. She said she liked to read books about scams in China because there was gold in them.
When Liu talked about business, the numbers were often big. For example, she said she bought an insurance package that covers US$33 million and she just lost over one billion in a recent deal.
It seems Liu is not optimistic about China’s current affairs, but she said it’s not Xi Jinping’s fault. On the contrary, it is the officials at lower levels who didn’t do their jobs well.
“That’s why I hate the bad guys in the Communist Party,” said Liu.
Speaking of the government, Liu said, “I don’t know whether government officials are corrupt or not, but I never bribed anyone.”
Liu believes Chinese government officials are more hardworking and more efficient than Canadian ones.
According to Liu’s observations, Chinese government officials are willing to get out of bed at 2 a.m. to meet with rich investors. In contrast, Canadian politicians would choose to mow the lawn on the weekend with their families instead of changing their plans to accommodate investor meetings.
Ambitious plans in Canadian business and politics
It appears that Liu quite enjoys her life in Canada.
She not only gave YouTuber Dong Nan a tour around her luxury house but also invited him to have breakfast with her and her family. Xiulan Gu, Liu’s sister-in-law, served the food and drink for everyone.
Liu said Gu’s very industrious and good at “eating bitterness”. In addition, Gu birthed three children for the Liu family after she married Liu’s brother at the age of 20.
“She is a hero in our family…. I love her very much,” said Liu to the camera while Gu stood beside the dinner table with a timid face.
On the upstairs of the house, there’s a vintage-looking armchair, which Ms. Liu first referred to as the chair of the British Queen but later said to be a replica. Sitting on the chair, Liu said it symbolized power and wealth. “I’m the king of my family. I’m the king of my company,” said Liu.
Speaking of business, Liu said shopping malls in North America are in serious decline but she could revive them by adding more culture, services and experiences into old-fashioned stores, as well as some Chinese wisdom.
She said, “For most Chinese people if you pay them 5,000 dollars each per month, they are willing to work overtime. It’ll be even better if you provide free accommodation for them, and they will work very hard without your supervision.”
In stark contrast, local Canadians here have a completely different culture, which values family more than work and nobody would work overtime even when offered a high overtime rate.
“If a hundred million Chinese people come to Canada, I can find jobs for all of them!” said Liu.
Liu also expressed her interest in politics, saying she’d fight for the status of Chinese Canadians in Canada.
“When I found out that Vancouver elected a Chinese mayor, I felt incredibly proud,” said Liu. Although Mayor Ken Sim is from Hong Kong and Liu is from mainland China, Liu believes there’s something in common because they “both have yellow faces”.
“I can run for Mayor, Premier, or even Prime Minister,” Liu said in an exciting tone about the prospect of an immigrant becoming an elected politician in Canada.
Connections to the Chinese government and Canadian politicians
Liu is a businessperson with various ties to the Chinese government.
Besides being a CPPCC member, she is a member or director of a number of Beijing-associated organizations including the Guangdong Overseas Friendship Association (广东省海外联谊会), the Chinese Women’s Entrepreneurial Chamber (全国工商联女企业家商会), and the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce (全国工商联).
She’s built connections with a range of Canadian politicians as well.
During the Chinese New Year celebration in January 2023, her Tsawwassen Mills hosted a grand gala that featured Canadian Conservative Senator Victor Oh (胡子修), Burnaby Councillor James Wang (王白进), PLA veteran Rongxiang “Tiger” Yuan (原荣祥) and China’s Vancouver Consul Yang Shu (杨舒). A bunch of Chinese community leaders were also present including Wang Dianqi (王典奇), Miaofei Pan(潘妙飞), Maria Xu (徐凌), Winnie Liao (廖子蔚), etc. However, there were no Delta or Tsawwassen First Nation politicians in attendance.
"Liu believes there’s something in common because they “both have yellow faces”. "
What if a white person said something similar about another white person
' believes there’s something in common because they “both have white faces”?
Why isnt she booted out? She's working for the Chinese commies!