Chinese boxes. The shadow of the state behind Zheng and Wu and the future Milan
President Xi Jinping, football fan and keen to raise the level of the sport in China, could be behind the negotiations with the Milanese teams
Steven Zheng or Sonny Wu? Let's call them by their first names, Chinese: Zheng Jianming the first, an original clean energy magnate Jiangsu Province; Wu Shenjun the second, the investment fund manager Gsr (Golden Sand River, the river of golden sand), a native of Guangdong but grew up in Canada, where he graduated. Together they represent the consortium in the process of acquiring 100 percent of Milan, one of the most renowned teams in Europe (and the world).
But they are really together? And because everyone is talking about Wu Shenjun as the reference point of this deal while Zheng Jianming seems relegated to the shadows? I mean, who of the two is really the strong man? Considering that the diarchy is not part of the tradition of the Celestial Empire, has always structured on a strict social pyramid which is headed by the Son of Heaven, we can say that as in (large) business, the two protagonists of these endless negotiations have not same weight. If we were to judge according to Western standards, Wu Shenjun would be the leader, the future master of Milan: Bloomberg from the big international newspapers, all competed in presenting this investor as the man of destiny, if only because it is the ' only the beginning in the spotlight.
But that's not how it works in China. In the Celestial Empire who really prefers possibilities and money move checkers from behind the scenes . A system that is structured through the centuries in a society where being too conspicuous could arouse envy, jealousy and, above all, the attention (not necessarily benevolent) of power. Here are Chinese shadows: in the case of reversal of fortune, a life insurance: "I am no one ...." Then? With a net worth of nearly two billion dollars ( it is the 77th richest man in the People's Republic ), is more likely to be Zheng Jianming, hitherto semi unknown to most people, the tycoon who has the ability to invest enough to bring the symbol of European football in the East. Consider how he became a Scrooge. An intellectual, he was deputy head of the magazine Hainan Times but, above all, a researcher at the Institute of Economics and Technology under the wing of the State Council, that is, the Beijing government. Then, thanks to lucky real estate investments (in China say Xiahai , it is "cast into the sea" because of its past in the State), he has earned a lot of money and entered in the renewable energy sector. So: it has capital and, not least, entrature at the highest level. But he prefers to remain aloof. The best profile to manage this difficult change of ownership.
Operation, to bring, after Inter Milan in that of China, which responds to a clear political line indicated by President Xi Jinping , himself a football fan and keen to raise the level (currently very poor) of this sport in the country. This is why the difficulty of the negotiations, the presence of companies and people of which is still difficult to understand the role but all eager to please the maximum leader: Robin Lee Baidu, the Kweichouw Moutai (brand of international spirits). And our two Sonny Wu and Steven Zheng.
Nominee? According to Thomas Rosenthal, a scholar of contemporary China and Italian managers based in Shenzhen, it is not ruled out that behind all this there is whirling around the Chinese state, the only one who could get benefit from purchasing or sharing in the management of foreign teams . Rosenthal imagines a listing in Hong Kong, system to make quick cash money to those who invested for third parties. And then? Then you will see it is the game of Chinese boxes.