Jack Ma, the richest man in China, is a member of the Communist Party

BEIJING.-
Jack Ma, the founder of the Chinese technology giant Alibaba, is one of the richest people in the world, but we now know that he is part of another club: the powerful Chinese Communist Party ( PCC), which has 89 million members.

The membership was revealed by the People's Daily, the official organ of the CCP, in an article that congratulates the people who contribute to the development of China.

Ma – who has an estimated fortune of $ 35.8 billion – is not the first and probably not the last Chinese millionaire to join the party, which also owns real estate entrepreneur Xu Jiayin (Evergrande Group) and the founder of the Wanda group, Wang Jianlin, as affiliated superrichs.

Until now, Ma had said that he preferred to stay out of politics.

In the article published yesterday, the People's Daily notes that Ma is a member of the CCP who has played an important role in promoting the "Silk Roads" initiative, an ambitious program of social and economic activities. Eurasian investments in the Chinese president's infrastructure,

Xi Jinping

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He is also considered one of the "outstanding architects of socialism with Chinese characteristics in Zhejiang Province", where is the headquarters of Alibaba, according to the publication.

Joining the party can be helpful for private entrepreneurs in China, who have to cope in a complex business environment in which the state economy dominates many sectors and private businesses can be poorly received.

Xi intends to reinvigorate the CCP's expansion of power in private enterprises, demanding that any company with more than three party members establish a training cell.

Three out of four private businesses already have partisan organizations.

AFP Agency