Never before have China’s domestic politics had such ramifications for global business.
This week, the country’s ongoing corruption probe drew in Zhou Yongkang, the former energy and security tsar, and Wang Zongnan, the former chairman of Bright Food, which produces Weetabix – demonstrating how the process can affect overseas joint ventures and investment deals.
Chinese media confirmed on Tuesday what has been rumoured for a year: that Mr Zhou was under investigation for “suspected serious discipline violations” – a Communist party euphemism for corruption. With his power base in energy and mining, he had been an active proponent of Chinese companies “going out” to secure resources – and many of the executives of the state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation detained in the authorities’ year-long purge were instruments of that policy.