Jackie Chan, the charismatic and world-renowned martial artist and actor finds himself in the middle of a brewing political war in China, as Xi Jinping undertakes the ‘Great Purge’ to weed out all dissidents and rival political factions from within the CCP. While Jackie Chan has remained loyal to the CCP, scripting his own reputation to take a nosedive in Hong Kong, it has not been perfectly clear as to what faction of the Chinese Communist Party, the actor has a soft corner for. With the latest developments being reported out of Beijing, the air on that bit has been cleared too.
Jackie Chan’s mansion (two luxury combined flats) seized in Beijing by authorities has been put up for auction. Sounds surprising, given how devotedly Jackie Chan has supported the CCP and its brutal imposition of the National Security Law in Hong Kong, culling the liberties of a free people. The seizure reportedly traces its roots back to what authorities are calling a “tax evasion” done by Chan between 2006 and 2008. Such strict action, relating to alleged evasion done 14 years ago has raised many eyebrows, and it is becoming clear that this is no simple auctioning of a house supposedly owned by Jackie Chan; rather, a bigger political conspiracy against Chan is underway.
The online listing of the two luxury flats had a combined area of 1,217 square metres, six bedrooms, three living areas and a market value of 100 million yuan (USD 14.6 million).The flats are listed at Dongzhimen Inner Street, in a residential compound within Beijing’s second ring road. Beijing based Yujia Real Estate sold the flats to Chan in late 2007 for around 33.6 million yuan (USD 4.9 million), however, the properties were never transferred in the name of Jackie. It must be mentioned here that the martial arts artist had even undertaken a celebrity promotion streak for Yujia Real Estate, and instead of paying the actor for promoting their brand, the builders provided an exorbitant discount on the price of the two flats which were to be sold to Chan, as a result of which the CCP loyalist was reportedly given a massive 20.6 million yuan waiver.
It is this discount which has ‘officially’, of course, become the crux of Jackie Chan’s woes, as he evaded paying tax on close to 20 million yuan. A rival developer, Tenhong Real Estate, filed for arbitration with Yujia to settle debts, subsequent to which the court ordered the seizure of assets, including the two homes that Chan had bought.
This is what is happening officially. Unofficially, though, many believe that Jackie Chan is being hounded by ruling CCP authorities for his close ties to the Jiang faction of the red party, which is the main faction fighting against the hegemony of CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping’s mob-like faction. Jackie Chan’s ties to the CCP are through a network of former vice-chairman of the party – Zeng Qinghong. It is interesting to note here that the action against Jackie Chan comes right after Xi Jinping launched new purges across China to secure his control over the middle kingdom. The Great Purge of Xi Jinping came after the end of the CCP’s high-level Beidaihe meeting.
The reported action by the CCP against Jackie Chan comes despite the fact that he vociferously advocated the imposition of the National Security Law in Hong Kong by Jinping’s regime. For the same, an already unliked Jackie Chan in his home city began to be despised by the people for being a stooge of the Chinese Communist Party. Meanwhile, the tossing of Jackie Chan rather unceremoniously by the CCP goes on to show how in China, one must toe the line of the ruling faction, else, individuals are subjected to the worst kind of harassment and hounding.