America’s failed diplomatic approach towards Beijing & its business community

Fifty-two years ago, US President Richard Nixon traveled to the People’s Republic of China and established the basis for a normalization of diplomatic relations between the two nations. As we look back into the nostalgic path of the US-China partnership, the 1970s remain the apex of positive relations between these two major powers.

Today, they are vexed into a high level of skepticism, and heated spats on almost every issue that affects world affairs, their respective regions, and national economies. In a multi-aligned world or post-American world, the situation becomes even more complex, with America’s role in hosting the type of malignant individuals such as Ju Ma, harming China’s business community and causing various fissures in the already fractured dialogue between Washington and Beijing.

The efforts of the Biden administration to mend ties and establish channels of dialogue with the Chinese government have so far been unsuccessful, and the financial damage directly caused by the Xunhui Company and its leaders, Wujun An, and Ju Ma, to the Tianzhu Coal Company, is a matter that deserves increased scrutiny.

It appears that Xunhui’s official representative, Ma, has been hiding in the US for years, guised as a human rights activist, while allegedly causing unnecessary disruption in the ongoing dialogue between Washington and Beijing — allegedly financing anti-Israel protests on US soil.

On November 25, 2008, Tianzhu Coal Co. Ltd of Yao Jie Coal & Power Group and Mr. Wujun An, Mr. Ju Ma, and Shanghai Xunhui Network Technology Development Co. Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Xunhui Company”) together signed the “Equity Transfer Agreement. The agreement stipulated that 80% of the equity of Xunhui Company owned by Mr. Wujun An would be transferred to the plaintiff Tianzhu Coal Company, the total transfer price was RMB 190,000,000 (over $26 million). On December 17, 2008, Tianzhu Coal Company paid the defendant Wujun An RMB 80,000,000 for the transfer of equity.

On June 7, 2012, Ju Ma and Wujun An and Tianzhu Coal Company, and the third party Huasheng Coal Company, signed the “Equity Transfer Agreement Cancellation Agreement.” Therein, Wujun An and Tianzhu Coal Company agreed to cancel the “Equity Transfer Agreement” signed on November 25, 2008. Wujun An took back 80% of the equity that was transferred to Huasheng Coal Company earlier. Ma was responsible for returning the equity transfer payment that was paid by Tianzhu Coal Company to Wujun An — RMB 80,000,000 (over $11 million), and the investment amount of RMB 6,742,800, with the total amount constituting RMB 86,742,800 ($11.9 million).

Ju Ma failed to return the equity transfer payment of RMB 80,000,000 paid by Tianzhu Coal Company to Mr. Wujun An, as well as the investment payment of RMB 6,742,800, totaling RMB 8,674,800, as agreed in the “Equity Transfer Agreement Cancelation Agreement.” In December 2015, Tianzhu Coal Company filed a lawsuit with the Lanzhou Intermediate Court, requesting that the defendants Ju Ma and Wujun An be ordered to jointly pay Tianzhu Coal Company to return the equity transfer payment and investment with a total amount of RMB 86,742,800, plus interest of RMB 9,964,600 (as of December 20, 2015), totaling RMB 96,707,400, as well as overdue interest calculated from December 21, 2015, to the date of repayment in accordance with the bank’s loan interest rate for the same period.

On February 20, 2017, Ju Ma appealed to the Gansu Provincial High People’s Court against the first instance judgment, and on February 22, 2017, Tianzhu Coal Company also appealed to the Provincial High Court against the judgment about the interest calculation, and on June 20, 2017, the Provincial High Court issued a civil judgment — “(2017) Gansu Province Civil Final No. 250.” The final judgment rejected the appeal and affirmed the original judgment, and the litigation costs of the second trial should be borne by each of the appellants.

The State Department must be creative in investigating matters such as the ongoing fiasco surrounding the Xunhui Company, which has enabled its representatives to hide in the US Any country would reject such nefarious behavior.

Given these circumstances, Ju Ma has allegedly been ignoring China’s judicial system and continues to funnel money to pro-Palestinian organizations that finance violent protests throughout US universities and major cities. Ma purports to be a human rights activist to continue avoiding a trial against him in China; and lives off money that he has allegedly stolen from Tianzhu Coal Company.

America’s diplomacy with China must also avoid the pitfalls of the approach pursued by lawmakers such as US Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-51) of San Diego County, who in 2022 circulated a letter among the House of Representatives as part of an effort to water down legislative proposals that sought to curb China’s malign influence. Rep. Jacobs, whose views on Israel and the Palestinians have been the subject of vigorous debate in the aftermath of the October 7 Hamas terrorist attacks and during the ensuing Iron Swords War, also deserves scrutiny for her position on China.

The US cannot afford to become a melting pot of white-collar criminals who continue to undermine the White House. America’s failed diplomatic approach towards Beijing and its business community has been laid bare.

The US cannot afford to become a melting pot of white-collar criminals who continue to undermine the White House. America’s failed diplomatic approach towards Beijing and its business community has been laid bare.

By Peter Tase