Hitting China’s Leaders Where It Hurts

Washington is taking another crack at the one thing that really scares Xi Jinping. The U.S. Intelligence Community (IC) is investigating the wealth of the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) – that’s Xi Jinping, and the other six members of the Politburo Standing Committee, along with the full 25-member Politburo.

The FY 2026 Intelligence Authorization Act (Section 513) requires the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) to draft the report – and to look at assets, financial holdings, real estate, and business interests – to include those held outside China. The report will also include the ‘cut outs’ and ‘fronts’ enabling and obscuring Xi and top officials’ ownership.

The final report is due out later this year.

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Why is this so worrisome for Xi?

The CCP and its cadres are supposed to be honest and egalitarian. It’s hard to explain away this sort of wealth. Xi’s salary doesn’t allow for it. And Xi has removed tens of thousands of Party officials on charges of ‘corruption.’

Xi Jinping and the Party’s elite can’t blame it on foreigners’ bullying and trying to contain China.

Amassing this level of wealth is entirely their own accomplishment.

Try explaining it to the 600 million Chinese citizens (by the CCP’s own admission) who live on $5 a day or less.

The second try…

Congress ordered a similar report from the IC and State Department in 2023 – on the ‘wealth and corrupt activities’ of top CCP leaders.

The Chinese were worried enough that the PRC Embassy in Washington reportedly called around town asking that the report be cancelled.

They needn’t have worried; they got to the right people. The report was finally issued in March 2025 – over a year late – soon after the Trump administration took office.

It was underwhelming. Seven pages of gibberish and bland already-reported information that an intern with a couple hours and a few Google searches might have produced.

In effect, the IC and State Department were giving Congress two middle fingers – including former Senator Marco Rubio, who had spearheaded the effort, and ironically, was the new Secretary of State.

How hard is this? Not very.

In 2012, Bloomberg and The New York Times reported on this topic and produced embarrassing details - including Xi’s family wealth estimated at $1 billion.

And these were just a handful of reporters on a shoestring budget.

The Congressional Research Service took a look at the subject in 2024 and pegged Xi family holdings at over $700 billion.

The Intelligence Community, with its $100 billion a year budget and massive resources, can do much better. Treasury Department often does excellent work and can help out as well. And there are some good private outfits doing this sort of research for a living.

The report will presumably be better this time. It couldn’t be worse than the first one.

But most important is what is done with it.

The law calls for it to be posted on the DNI website.

That’s better than hushing it up and holding it in reserve in hopes of wielding some leverage over Xi and the CCP.

This will not change Chinese behavior -- just as no forbearance shown the CCP ever has.

As one example of many, note that successive U.S. administrations’ longstanding refusal to make a real issue of Chinese-origin fentanyl precursors that have killed over 800,000 Americans hasn’t had any positive effect on the problem – that China could stop in an afternoon.

The CCP just pockets the favors and continues its war against us. And in the case of fentanyl, it keeps murdering Americans. Chinese fentanyl precursors are reportedly sold at a loss in order to keep the killing going.

So instead, publicize the report (and a Chinese version) to high heaven so that all 1.4 billion Chinese know how well their rulers have done for themselves.

And don’t stop. This should not be a one-time report that is released and (like all reports) forgotten in a week. This is a massive target, and there is always more to be uncovered – especially if you expand coverage to the ‘top 500’ CCP elites and beyond.

Make it an intelligence priority and keep on it. Update the report every quarter.

Publicize it widely on Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, and elsewhere.

With a little imagination, one could make the details of CCP leadership wealth into popular entertainment. Say, for example, every Wednesday release a name with the full details of what they’ve got and where – with photos to boot.

Perhaps the ‘Wednesday afternoon CCP wealth report’ will become a hit show in China?

And for added effect, place liens on accounts and properties – at least until the ultimate owner provides a note explaining how the money was lawfully exported from China. Remember, Chinese citizens are only allowed to export $50,000 in US currency a year.

And cancel the green cards of those facilitating the schemes.

If Chinese officials complain, announce we’re simply trying to help Xi with his anti-corruption campaigns and assisting his efforts to curb money laundering and illicit capital flight.

One can hear American China-whisperers warning that “Xi won’t be happy.”

That’s true. It’s also the idea.