Chinese billionaire rescued after ‘kidnappers’ broke into house

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A Chinese billionaire has been rescued after a group of kidnappers broke into his house, with his son alerting police after escaping across a river, according to Chinese media.

Police said He Xiangjian, the founder of house appliance manufacturing giant Midea Group, is safe after the incident.

Authorities in Foshan, a city in southern China, said they received a report a private home had been broken into on Sunday evening.

They said they were warned people’s lives were under threat.

After a group of people broke into the villa in Beijiao, a town in Foshan, the billionaire’s son managed to swim across a river by the property and call police, according to 36Kr, a business news website.

The kidnappers were suspected of carrying explosives with them, according to local media reports.

Police said they rescued a person with the surname He at around 5am local time on Monday, with a policeman in Foshan saying the person was called He Xiangjian – the billionaire founder of Midea Group.

Five people have been arrested, authorities have said, adding no one was injured in the ordeal.

One neighbour told Chinese media they were “scared” after hearing about the incident.

“After all I have always thought that the security here is better than in other neighbourhoods,” one person who lives at the community told South China Morning Post.

Midea Group thanked the police and the public for their concern towards the situation on its official account on the Twitter-like Weibo platform.

Thousands of users had been speculating over Mr He’s situation on the Chinese social media site.

Poice have said the case is under further investigation.

Mr He, a 78-year-old billionaire, founded Midea in 1992 and stepped down as its chairman in 2012 – but he continues to be the company’s controlling shareholder.

The 2020 Hurun Global Rich List ranked him as the world’s 41st richest person with an estimated wealth of 182bn yuan (£20.5bn).

Additional reporting by Reuters