In China, incidents of official infringement on the rights of private enterprises by the Chinese Communist Party are not uncommon. Recently, a Chongqing businessman invested 800 million yuan in building a liquor wastewater treatment plant in Maotai Town, Guizhou Province. However, upon completion of the acceptance inspection, the plant was forcibly taken over by authorities, leaving the owner without the expected annual profits of nearly a hundred million yuan. This revelation has sparked widespread discussion and debate.
According to a report by Chinese media outlet “Da Xiang News” on the 24th, Tang Xiance, the founder of Chongqing Taik Environmental Technology Co., Ltd., shared his experience during the construction of the liquor wastewater treatment plant in Maotai Town, Renhuai City, Guizhou Province.
Tang Xiance stated, “Through local government investment attraction, I invested 800 million yuan in building a liquor wastewater treatment plant in Maotai Town. However, officials from the Renhuai City Bureau of Industry and Commerce showed up with a ‘contract termination notice’ and forcibly took over the plant. Despite the court not supporting the legal validity of the ‘contract termination notice,’ the local government has not resolved the issue in over three years, and now the investors can’t even access the plant premises.”
At 63 years old, Tang Xiance had studied environmental engineering in Germany as a government-sponsored student. In 1997, he founded Chongqing Taik, becoming one of the top ten wastewater treatment enterprises in Chongqing.
In 2017, Renhuai City issued a PPP project announcement for the construction of a liquor wastewater treatment plant capable of treating 15,000 tons of wastewater per day. Chongqing Taik and another state-owned enterprise formed a joint bidding body and won the bid for the “Anlongchang Liquor Wastewater Treatment Plant Project”.
According to the contract, the Renhuai City government authorized relevant departments to serve as the project implementation agency, while Chongqing Taik and another company were responsible for project financing, construction, and were granted a 30-year concession operation right, which would be transferred to the Renhuai City government free of charge upon expiry.
The total project cost reached 820 million yuan, with Renhuai Water Investment Group investing 20 million yuan, while the remaining 800 million yuan was invested by the winning enterprises. Chongqing Taik’s investment and financing exceeded 700 million yuan, accounting for 86% of the project company’s shares.
The Anlongchang Liquor Wastewater Treatment Plant was completed and put into trial operation in January 2021, with environmental acceptance completed on May 24, 2022. However, on June 10, 2022, the Renhuai City Bureau of Industry and Commerce, representing the city government, issued a “contract termination notice” to Chongqing Taik and the other winning company, alleging major contract breaches by Chongqing Taik and instructing the plant staff to vacate within two hours.
Tang Xiance stated that the project company neither received any notification nor compensation.
The Renhuai City Bureau of Industry and Commerce filed a lawsuit with the local court seeking confirmation of the legality of the “contract termination notice”. In April 2023, the Zunyi Intermediate People’s Court ruled that the case did not fall within the scope of civil litigation and dismissed the lawsuit. The Renhuai City Bureau of Industry and Commerce appealed to the Guizhou High Court, which in September 2023, instructed the Zunyi Intermediate People’s Court to handle the case. In January 2024, the Zunyi Intermediate People’s Court ruled for the Renhuai City Bureau of Industry and Commerce to withdraw the lawsuit.
Despite the lack of legal support, over three years have passed, and the Anlongchang Liquor Wastewater Treatment Plant remains under government control.
Tang Xiance expressed that the projected annual revenue was over 300 million yuan, with a net profit of 80 to 100 million yuan. However, after three years, the project’s income is unattainable, while demands for repayment from investors and lawsuits from suppliers for payment have surfaced one after another, forcing Chongqing Taik to lay off employees. With the business’s financial chain broken, they can only patch up to barely maintain operations. Due to this, Tang Xiance has experienced depressive episodes multiple times, losing sleep throughout the night, and his hair has turned almost completely white over these three years.
Following media coverage of this incident, on September 24, the Renhuai City Government Information Office in Zunyi, Guizhou, issued a situation report stating that the city has established a special team to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the situation, and the investigation results will be promptly released to the public.
In response, comments from Chinese netizens include: “Want to eat meat? Your pot has been taken away! ” ” Story conclusion: financial strength < legal power < political power."
Internationally, this incident has also sparked discussions on X platform:
"Open for investment, then turn hostile! The Communist Party has had no credibility since its inception, always resorting to devious means to seize others' property! And then, they resort to deception… Anyone seeking to invest in China's land is stepping into a trap! Without exception!"
"Nonsense! What do you mean seized? Harsh! This is communism, it's theirs!"
"They used this tactic to deal with Taiwanese businesses before, and once those businesses left, they started looting private enterprises."
"These people have never understood history, have they? Maotai distilleries were all seized, so seizing a wastewater treatment plant is perfectly normal."
"Public-private partnerships, confiscation of landlords' property—haven't you heard of these? Do the landlords have a chance to argue with the bandits and their cronies? Are they advocating for you, standing on your side? Still expecting the CCP to have humanity? That's too naive."