Beijing: Two-hundred of China’s richest lawmakers are worth $500 billion, according to Hurun Report, which publishes the China Rich List. The figure is bigger than the GDP of Sweden, Nigeria or Belgium.
They are members of National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature, and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the top political advisory board. which began meeting in Beijing this week, the Telegraph reported.
The fortunes of the richest 100 lawmakers have risen by 64 per cent since Xi Jinping came to power in 2013, the report said. Xi has vowed to confront excess and extravagance among officials in a country where the wide distribution of wealth is a major source of anger.
According to CNN, China’s annual political meetings are mostly for show. Voting takes place, but lawmakers approve the ruling party’s proposals.
The increasing wealth of lawmakers shows that “political power and money have remained tightly intertwined in China: this is a structural issue that Xi cannot solve,” but only hide, Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, told New York Times.
