The richest man in China is a member of the Communist Party

International

Jack Ma, founder of Chinese online trading giant Alibaba and the richest man in China, is a member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the official press reported.

Its membership of the CCP, with 89 million members, was leaked by the People's Daily, the ruling CCP body, in an article praising China's development actors.

The businessman who had previously hinted that he preferred not to meddle in politics, joins other extremely wealthy CCP members, such as billionaire Xu Jiayin, real estate developer and founder of the Evergrande group.

The People's Daily said in its article published Monday that Jack Ma played an important role in favor of the new "Silk Roads", a huge Chinese investment program, particularly in Asia and Europe, launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping.

He is also hailed as one of the "outstanding builders of socialism with Chinese characteristics in Zhejiang Province," where Alibaba is headquartered.

While many economic sectors are dominated by state-owned enterprises, adherence to the CCP can sometimes facilitate private entrepreneurial efforts in a complicated legislative and economic context.