By Archis Chowdhury
The Congress party recently shared a news report by non-profit website Adani Watch to claim that Chang Chien-Ting, an associate of the Adani Group, is a Chinese national. The article, based on this claim, questions the Indian government's silence on a Chinese-owned company being involved in critical infrastructure projects in India, in the backdrop of the geopolitical rivalry between the two countries.
BOOM found that these claims were erroneous; according to the the findings of the Hindenburg report, and multiple other reports by Taiwanese media, Chang has been described as a Taiwanese national.
The error stems from the fact that the document provided by Congress and Adani Watch to back up their claim of Chang's nationality said that he was a citizen of 'Republic of China' - which was assumed by the article to suggest that he is a 'Chinese' national. However, Republic of China refers to the official name of Taiwan, whereas China's official name remains People's Republic of China.
According to the Adani Watch article, and as per the Hindenburg report, PMC Projects was served a show cause notice in 2014 by the Ministry of Finance's Directorate of Revenue Intelligence for over-invoicing imports as a contractor for Maharashtra Eastern Grid Power Transmission Company Limited (MEGPTCL), an Adani Enterprises subsidiary. The reports also state that DRI eventually gave a clean chit on this case.
Furthermore, Adani Watch also investigates the ownership patterns to show that while PMC Projects was not described as an Adani Group company, it has been closely operated by the group. The article also uses a list of regulatory filings, financial statements and ownership disclosure documents to allege that PMC Projects is operated as a shell company by the Adani Group.
Congress, in their official Twitter handle, shared a screenshot of the Adani Watch article titled, "EXCLUSIVE: Firm linked to Adani’s infrastructure projects owned by Chinese national", which contained an image of Chang with Gautam Adani. The tweet was shared as part of a thread, and contained the following caption in Hindi, translated into English:
"Till now we knew that only Modi ji has good relations with China. But now it has also been revealed about his friend Adani ji. Actually, a firm related to Adani's infrastructure projects is owned by a Chinese citizen."
In another tweet in the thread, the handle wrote, "The name of this Chinese firm is PMC Projects and its owner is 'Chang Chien-Ting', better known as Morris Chang. Shockingly, Morris Chang is the son of Chinese national Chang Chung-ling, who has been a director of Adani's companies and is a business partner of Adani's brother Vinod Adani."
The article by Adani Watch, and the thread by Congress, questioned the Indian government's silence on these alleged dealings with Adani and a Chinese firm, in the backdrop of India's border disputes with China.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also made the same claim in a tweet.
In an article published on January 31, 2023, Mint had also made a similar error and called Chang a Chinese national.
Journalist Ravi Nair, who wrote the article for Adani Watch, was called out for calling 'Republic of China' as Taiwan, defended his arguments by stating that Taiwan, or the Republic of China, is not formally considered a sovereign country, but rather a province of China, by both India and the United States Security Council.
Fact Check
The article by Adani Watch highlights the connection between the Adani Group and a Mauritius-based company called PMC Projects, whose owner happens to be Chang's son, Chang Chien-Ting.
The article, which reiterates several findings mentioned in the Hindenburg report, provides a screenshot showing an excerpt from a document that highlighted Chang's nationality.
The excerpt, containing "Particulars of the holder of the significant beneficial interest", is part of a document on the beneficiary details of PMC Projects, which was uploaded in its entirety by Hindenburg.
The excerpt provides an address in Taoyuan city in Taiwan for Chang's son, and states that he is a national of 'Republic of China', which refers to the official name of Taiwan.
During India's second wave of the pandemic, Taoyuan City authorities held a press conference to mark the city's donation of anti-epidemic material to India, with Adani Group's Taiwan unit being invited as a co-donor - represented by Chang Chien-Ting (also referred in Taiwanese media as Zhang Jian Jing).
The event was also attended by Taiwanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu.
Taiwanese magazine Tian Xia, also known as Commonwealth Magazine, did an article on Chang (or Zhang), calling him a successful Taiwanese businessman in India through the Adani Group.
BOOM has reached out to an Adani Group spokesperson, and the story will be updated if and when we get a response.
Brief History Of The Republic of China
In 1945, Taiwan was indeed under China's territory, following a period of colonisation by the Japanese Empire. At that time, China had the official name of 'Republic Of China', ruled by the Nationalist Party of China, also called the Kuomintang.
While it became a founding member of the United Nations, and held the official seat of China, the country was soon engulfed in a civil war between the nationalists and the Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Ze Dong.
By 1949, the nationalist government was driven out of mainland China into Taiwan, while the communists took control of the mainland. While the former kept their title of Republic of China (RoC) - a government in exile in Taiwan, the latter took up the name of People's Republic of China (PRC) for the territories under mainland China.
While both countries claimed to be the 'real China', PRC managed to convince the United Nations to be provided China's seat, which was previously held by RoC, based on the fact that most Chinese citizens were in PRC-controlled territories.
While the fighting between the two countries ended, no peace treaty has been signed between them, with PRC still continuing to officially lay claim over RoC.
Since then, RoC has made efforts to be identified as a sovereign country with its own functioning government. However, it has not been able to gain a seat as a member state of the United Nations due to PRC's veto power in the United Nations Security Council's decision to grant the membership.
BOOM found that Chang is indeed a Taiwanese national, and, given the dispute between Taiwan and PRC, the claim that Adani has dealings with a Chang as a Chinese national is erroneous.
