Entrepreneur Desmond Shum’s warning against business travel to China

A Chinese entrepreneur whose billionaire wife was snatched off the streets of Beijing has warned people against travelling to the mainland.

A billionaire has given a grim warning to Australians keen to travel to China when borders reopen and dabble in business.

Desmond Shum explained the complex nature of trying to navigate high-level business deals under Xi Jinping’s “dictatorship” as part of his new book, Red Roulette.

In the book, Mr Shum details the lavish life her and ex-wife Whitney Duan enjoyed in China in the 2000s.

From dishing out thousands on lunches, to private jets and schmoozing with political elites the couple lived it up, enjoying luxuries most people could never even imagine.

Ms Duan even spent $US200,000 on a special licence plate for her Audi which exempted the driver from regular Beijing traffic rules.

But everything changed one day in 2017 when Ms Duan was snatched by Beijing’s secret police over her growing political ties.

Mr Shum and Ms Duan lived an impossibly lavish life in China in the 2000s. Picture: Desmund Shum,

She was held for four years without charge, and prevented from contacting any family members or friends.

It took years for Mr Shum to realise what had happened to his wife. He had left China in 2015 with the couple’s young son, and suddenly found his calls and messages to Ms Duan going unanswered.

Mr Shum said because the business world in China is dictated by political power, anyone who wanted to be successful needed “to be associated with the Communist Party”.

But since President-for-life Xi Jinping came to power, Mr Shum fears the ongoing crackdown on the wealthy and entrepreneurs could impact international business travellers once China’s borders reopen to Australia again.

Ms Duan and Mr Shum share a son together. Picture: Desmund Shum

“I think as a tourist it would not be a clear safety problem but when it comes to business that is a very different issue,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mail.

“Many companies who try to pull their money out and diversify into other parts of Asia for example, they immediately run into trouble from the Chinese not letting them take their money out.

“So on your books it might say you have $10 million of assets in China but the moment you try to pull that money out, that money may no longer belong to you.

“And given the continuing deterioration of relations between Beijing and the West, and Australia in particular, I think Australian businesses going over there really need to think twice.”

Weihong “Whitney” Duan spent four years in custody without charge. Picture: Desmund Shum,/NY Post composite

Mr Shum, who says he is now retired and focusing on his son, has previously praised the Australian government on pushing back against China’s economic coercion.

In an interview with Time magazine, Mr Shum said he and their son would unlikely to ever see his ex-wife again, because she remains in China.