US, EU Sanctions on Russia Have Upset CCP’s Ruling Elite: Expert

(L-R) Former Chinese vice president Zeng Qinghong, and Politburo Standing Committee members Liu Yunshan, and Zhang Gaoli are three elite Chinese Communist Party cadres whose family members own overseas shell companies, according to the Panama Papers, a massive collection of leaked documents. (Feng Li/Getty Images)

The ongoing U.S. and European sanctions against Russia are sending shockwaves through China’s powerful elites. A China expert says “red aristocrats” are almost united against Chinese leader Xi Jinping over his decision to attack Taiwan.

Australia-based China expert Yuan Hongbing told The Epoch Times that the Chinese communist princelings are fearful, worrying that Xi’s decision to invade Taiwan might pose risks to their huge overseas wealth.

Despite internal discord China’s princelings are almost united against Xi, who they believe will definitely launch a military attack against Taiwan, at least before 2024, according to Yuan Hongbing, a China expert having connections within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) system.

“The princeling families are almost driven crazy,” said Yuan. “Not only that. So are certain upstarts.”

The Epoch Times cannot verify Yuan’s scoops through official channels.

There are signs of division among the Chinese communist elites, according to The Nikkei. It said some members of the Politburo Standing Committee, China’s top decision-making body, doubt if Xi’s pro-Putin stance is wise amid the escalating war in Ukraine.

Hu Wei, vice-chairman of the Public Policy Research Centre of the Counsellor’s Office of the State Council, urged Beijing to stay away from Moscow in an article published on the U.S.-China Perception Monitor. He predicts Russian leader Putin would end up in a crushing defeat in Ukraine and Beijing would get more internationally isolated amid sanctions from the United States and its allies if China’s Russian strategy remains unaltered.

Rafts of U.S. and E.U. sanctions target Russian billionaires close to President Vladimir Putin, freezing their assets like football clubs and luxury yachts.

Superyacht Luna owned by Russian billionaire Farkad Akhmedov is docked at Port Rashid in Dubai, UAE, on March 28, 2019. (Christopher Pike/Reuters)

The U.S. Treasury Department added on March 11 dozens of Kremlin-linked Russian oligarchs among others to a sanctions list for enabling Putin’s war against Ukraine.

The UK government froze Roman Abramovich’s British assets on March 10 among other restrictions. Also sanctioned were another six Russian oligarchs.

Italian authorities have seized a sailing yacht worth $578 million from Russian industrialist Andrey Igorevich Melnichenko, who was on an E.U. sanction list. The 470-foot sailing yacht has been sequestered at the northern port of Trieste, according to the Italian prime minister’s office.

Germany has also seized Alisher Usmanov’s superyacht. The White House said both the boat and Usmanov’s private jet—which it said was one of the largest privately-owned aircraft in Russia—would be blocked for use in the United States or by Americans.

Additionally, France targeted on March 3 a superyacht owned by Russian oligarch Igor Sechin, the CEO of Russian oil giant Rosneft, who was one of Putin’s most trusted and closest advisors, as well as his personal friend, according to the E.U.