Singaporean citizen allegedly linked to China’s “Copper King”

By Low De Wei and Olivia Poh

(Bloomberg) — The first Singapore citizen to be classified as a “politically significant person” under a 2021 foreign interference law manages the multimillion-dollar real estate portfolio of a Chinese metals billionaire.

The island's Interior Ministry said on Friday that it was invoking the Foreign Influence Act against 59-year-old Philip Chan Man Ping, who heads the real estate investment arm of a copper company owned by Chinese billionaire Wang Wenyin.

Chan was “susceptible to influence from foreign actors and willing to pursue their interests,” the ministry said. His activities were “aimed at a political goal in Singapore,” the statement said. Wang was not named in the statement.

Hong Kong-born Chan is managing director of Wen Way Investments Pte, the Singapore-based real estate arm of Amer International Group Co., according to Wen Way's website. Amer is a Fortune Global 500 company based in Shenzhen that primarily mines, processes and trades copper.

Wang, dubbed China's “copper king” by Chinese media, is the country's 35th richest man on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. His $6.6 billion fortune is managed primarily through Amer, which he founded in the 1990s. The company once boasted of being responsible for 10% of the country's copper imports. Amer did not immediately respond to requests for comment made outside business hours. Wen Way could not be reached for comment.

Singapore's home ministry said it notified Chan on February 2 of plans to designate him as a so-called “politically significant person.” From the notification, he would have two weeks to report to authorities. After that, he would have to disclose political donations of S$10,000 ($7,440) or more received and accepted annually, and disclose his foreign connections and any migration benefits. Designated individuals can appeal the decision directly to the home affairs minister.

Chan, a property industry veteran who migrated to Singapore more than thirty years ago, is also CEO of real estate agency C & H Properties Pte. Amer acquired a majority stake in the firm in 2013.

He runs Wen Way with Liu Jiehong, Wang's Chinese-born wife, who is chief executive. Liu, Amer's co-founder, also holds Singaporean citizenship, according to business documents. She is from Anhui province and her heritage-listed residence is an upscale bungalow – Singapore's most prestigious category of country home – in Windsor Park Road, a luxury enclave near a nature reserve.

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Chan has been president of the Kowloon Club, a support group for immigrants, mainly from Hong Kong, since 2011. In that role, he wrote columns for the local newspaper Lianhe Zaobao and socialized with local politicians, including some ministers, according to the club's website. The club did not respond to a request for comment outside of business hours.

Real estate portfolio worth millions

Wen Way, which Chan co-founded with Amer in 2012, has grown its portfolio in Singapore to include commercial properties valued at around 200 million Singapore dollars, according to its website. This includes the retail portion of The Sail @ Marina Bay, a high-profile waterfront project in the central business district, as well as stores at Far East Plaza, a mall in the Orchard Road shopping district.

According to land registry records, Amer's presence in the financial centre also includes the top three floors of the 20 Collyer Quay office building, which is owned by its commodity trading subsidiary Awin Resource International Pte.

China is Singapore's biggest trading partner and a major source of tourists, but Chinese wealth flowing into the state, particularly in the property sector, is under scrutiny. More than 200 properties were frozen after a record money laundering raid involving Chinese-born individuals began last year. Assets seized totaled over three billion Singapore dollars.

Chan declined an interview request. In an earlier response to queries from the Lianhe Zaobao daily, he said he “really doesn't know” why he received the notice and had not been told the reason. He told the newspaper he would first try to understand the legal situation before responding.

Courting the elite

In recent years, as President Xi Jinping has cracked down on China's prosperity, more and more wealthy immigrants from China have flocked to Singapore – a trend that has accelerated during the pandemic.

According to business documents, Chan founded an independent company called Mutual Benefits Realty Pte in 2010. According to his company bio, the company focuses on “helping high-net-worth clients from China acquire and invest in high-end and mid-priced properties in Singapore.”

According to business documents, he founded a similarly named company in 2007 as a business and immigration consultancy. In 2020, he also founded an education consultancy called China Link to “promote greater understanding and appreciation of China in Southeast Asian communities.”

Chan was invited as a foreign delegate to China's most important annual political meeting, the “Two Sessions,” last March, and has been increasingly vocal about what he sees as the “hypocritical” Western media's distorted portrayal of China.

“As overseas Chinese, we have a duty to tell China's story well abroad, and we will make every effort to do so and spread the message about the excellence of Chinese traditions and culture,” he said after the meeting in Beijing.

Chan has close ties with businesses and grassroots organizations in Singapore. He is listed as president of the Hong Kong Singapore Business Association. He has served as patron of committees that organize social activities to promote nation-building under the supervision of the People's Association, a government organization. According to a now-deleted profile on the organization's website, he was also a committee member of SPD, a local charity for the disabled.

A spokesperson for the People's Association said Chan had “resigned from all grassroots positions,” but did not elaborate on the time frame or reasons. The Hong Kong Singapore Business Association said in a statement that Chan had resigned as president effective February 2 and had previously communicated his intention to step down by June 2024. “We are solely dedicated to promoting business facilitation, cooperation and improving connectivity between Singapore and Hong Kong,” the association said.

The SPD did not respond to inquiries outside of business hours.

Chan's activism had attracted the attention of the authorities in the past. He received a warning from the police in 2019 after he held an illegal public gathering at his bar in The Sail to express his support for the authorities during mass protests in Hong Kong.

Singapore has said it will not apply the Foreign Influence Act against foreign individuals and publications that comment on and report on Singapore politics. Critics of the law have said it gives the government sweeping powers to crack down on dissent and encourages self-censorship.

The government recently passed a new law that gives authorities the power to more closely scrutinise investments in sectors that are vital to the national interest.

— With assistance from Jing Li, Alfred Cang, Andrea Tan and Karthikeyan Sundaram.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.