The Legitimacy of the CCP Is Questioned by Century-Old Debt

A series of bonds issued by the Qing government a century ago are once again questioning the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist regime that is now in a difficult dilemma it can not get out of. The market value of the bonds is worth $1.6 trillion USD, and if the CCP wants to prove itself to be the legitimate government of China, then it has to pay back these bonds. If the CCP refuses to acknowledge this debt, then it must recognize that the Republic of China (Taiwan) as the legitimate government of China.

Recently, Americans who hold the “Hukuang Railway Bond”—issued by the Qing Dynasty to the United States, Britain, France, and Germany to raise funds for the construction of the Hukuang Railways that runs from Hunan to Guangzhou—initiated a movement demanding the Chinese Communist Party repay the debt. The chairman of the American Bondholders Foundation (ABF), Jonna Bianco, said: “These bonds were originally issued under the Republic of China, what we know today is Taiwan. And the Communist regime who went in and took over mainland China and became the official government in 1949. It becomes their responsibility to honor this debt. The CCP, the Chinese Communist Party’s debt, just as they paid Great Britain in 1987 for the very same bond. It is the successor of government doctrine.”