[SouthSeaConversations] PLA-affiliated positions denied, reconfirmedChairman Ye granted his interview after Czech journalists highlighted evidence of his ties to the PLA. In particular, they had noted that the 2012 Annual Report of CEFC International Ltd, a Singapore-listed company majority owned by Ye himself, stated that from 2003 to 2005 he served as Deputy Secretary-General of CAIFC, the best-known platform of the Liaison Department of PLA General Political Department (GPD-LD). The GPD-LD is responsible for an area of military political work that has traditionally included externally-directed propaganda and the cultivation of ties with foreign elites in countries the CCP regards as ideologically hostile.
In his Fortune interview, Ye flatly denied any such connection, saying he had been misrepresented, apparently by his own companies: