TP-Link founder applies for Gold Card US Visa:
He deserves whatever happens to him and his company.
When I saw Maikeru's post to which FairAndUnbiased replied, my initial thought was "Well, hanjians gonna hanjian," but then I decided to look up other reports on TP-Link and its "distancing" from China. I found these two articles particularly informative:
(Bloomberg, April 2025)
(The Wire China, January 2025)
Here are the key facts as I understand them:
(1) The original TP-Link was founded in Shenzhen in 1996 by brothers Zhao Jianjun (aka Jeffrey Chao, the guy applying for a US "Trump Gold Card" visa) and Zhao Jiaxing (aka Cliff Chao). I'll call that company TPL-China.
(2) In 2008, TPL-China set up a US subsidiary, which I'll call TPL-US. TPL-US's actual name is currently TP-Link Systems. *This* is the company of which Jeffrey Chao is the purported "founder," in the item linked by Maikeru above.
(3) In 2021, the Zhao/Chao brothers started formally separating TPL-US from TPL-China. In May 2024, the separation was complete. Previously, Jianjun/Jeffrey and Jiaxing/Cliff each owned almost 49% of TPL-China (almost 98% together). Afterwards, Jiaxing owned almost 98% of TPL-China and Jianjun owned 0%, while owning 100% of TPL-US.
(4) TPL-US continues to maintain substantial R&D and manufacturing operations in China. From the April 2025 Bloomberg article I linked above:
The crown jewel of [Jeffrey Chao's] remaining operations in China is Shenzhen Lianzhou International Technology Co. Ltd. — the massive research, development and manufacturing arm that has attracted Chinese government support and that continues to power [TPL-US] despite the reorganization.
Lianzhou's Chengdu unit is now building a large engineering facility there. [TPL-US] said the project is expected to cost around $180 million and that the decision to proceed was made before the US pivot....
In addition, Lianzhou's Dongguan unit remains a manufacturing hub for [TPL-US]. While the company has said products imported into the US are made in a factory it owns in Vietnam, trade data and Chinese-language corporate materials indicate the facility is effectively a final assembly point. [TPL-US] confirmed that, aside from components bought in Vietnam that account for 0.5% of the total value of inputs to the plant there, all other components are imported from China.
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Now for some spin on the facts from the April 2025 Bloomberg article: According to the article, the Zhao/Chao brothers claim that the separation of TPL-US from TPL-China resulted from a falling-out between them in 2021 ("coincidentally," I note, while US witch hunts against Chinese companies and technology were ramping up).
There are also details like this:
[Jeffrey Chao] joined Mariners Church, a nondenominational congregation in Irvine where he was baptized last year and said he's found faith after being raised atheist in China. He hopes to reunite with Cliff here one day, too.
"In the future I hope we become closer," he said. "He really likes to go to those big mountains here in the United States to take pictures," he said, removing his glasses to wipe away more tears. "I hope I can be with him on those trips."
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So is Zhao Jianjun/Jeffrey Chao really a hanjian? Or is he simply in *deep cover* as a hanjian, while he and his brother continue to work together behind the scenes and laugh all the way to the bank?