Pelosi’s son who joined her on Taiwan trip holds Chinese tech stake – media — Analysis

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s son Paul Pelosi Jr. is the second-largest investor in Chinese telecom firm Borqs Technologies, a recent Daily Mail report has revealed. Before accompanying his mother to Taiwan on the taxpayer-funded trip, the younger Pelosi didn’t publicly reveal his stake in the $22 million firm. 

Upon learning that Pelosi Jr. had tagged along with his mother’s delegation, several Taiwanese politicians, including the former chair of the island’s financial supervisory commission, Tseng Ming-chung, have demanded to know whether the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party had a financial relationship with the Pelosi family and whether the congresswoman’s visit involved business interests. Pelosi, the younger of the two was not named as a member and did not claim any official post.  

According to data from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Pelosi has been a significant investor in Borqs and a participant in China’s internet-of-things and 5-G sectors. The report states that he received 700,000.000 shares from the firm in recompense for his efforts. At the time, his holdings exceeded those of CEO Pat Sek Yuen Chan.  

The younger Pelosi, despite not being part of the official delegation was photographed alongside Taiwanese President TsaiIng-wen as well as other officials from the contested territories. Officially, the congresswoman brought along a delegation of Democratic Party friends, including Gregory Meeks (House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman), Suzan DelBene (House Ways and Means Committee Vice-chair), Raja Krishamoorthi (House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence) and Andy Kim (House Armed Services Committee Member).   

Beijing sanctioned Pelosi and her family as a response to China calling it a “transparent provocation” by an American politician. Many Chinese believe that the trip was designed to raise tensions between China, the United States and China. However, pro-reunification scholar Chiu Yi told Global Times that Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan was also aimed at padding out her husband’s tech stock portfolio without triggering the suspicions that might arise from deploying an external financial advisor on such a mission. “Because of her busy schedule, Pelosi herself didn’t have much time and space to keep in touch with her husband in the US. She couldn’t let too many people know about their financial manipulation amid the Taiwan visit, and couldn’t even ask her secretary to do it, so she could only trust her son,” he told the Chinese outlet.

Pelosi actually claimed that her son did not have any business deals while she was on the island. “Pelosi is the US president of the company. His husband manages the US operations. Pelosi’s son served as Pelosi’s aide.,” Chiu explained.

House Speaker and her family have been accused of unhealthy coziness towards Beijing. These claims are not likely to be quashed by one allegedly enriching trip to Taiwan. Global Times cited another Taiwanese watcher who suggested that the Pelosi family might be positioning itself as an intermediary for American companies seeking to set up factories in Taiwan. The congresswoman’s visit to a major Taiwanese chip factory came just days after Congress passed a bill aimed at subsidizing the US semiconductor industry, which sent chip stocks skyrocketing. Pelosi and her husband have been accused of insider trading regarding Paul Pelosi Sr.’s trades on tech giants Apple, Amazon, and Alphabet last month, which netted the family more than $5 million in profits.

While the House speaker makes $223,500 annually in her government role, her net worth is estimated as high as $252 million, according to her own financial disclosures, leading many to speculate that her husband’s venture capital and financial consulting firm Financial Leasing Services feeds on insider information.