China's Private Oil Refiners Are Too Powerful For Beijing

[Meredith Poor + 895]

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The move is also intended to claw back control of China's crude refining sector from private refiners to state-owned refineries. And it's reminiscent of its earlier crackdown on big tech operations that were getting dangerously powerful and seen to be threatening party politics.

When preserving the power of the state over private interests is paramount, private initiative is stifled. This leads, sooner or later, to a failed state. See Soviet Union and Venezuela.