Wang Jing, the enigmatic businessman behind Nicaragua's $50 billion Interoceanic Grand Canal, shrugs off skepticism about how a little-known entrepreneur can be driving a huge transcontinental project, insisting he is not an agent of the Beijing government.
"I know you don't believe me," said Wang, who reckons that he has forked out about $100 million in canal preparation work and is burning as much as $10 million a month on the project. "You believe there are people from the Chinese government in the background providing support. Why, in the end, is only Wang Jing out front?"
High-ranking Chinese officials, including President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and former leaders Jiang Zemin and Wen Jiabao, have all visited the state-connected wireless communication technologies company that Wang took control of four years ago.