Project Description
After more than a year of rumors, an official investigation into “serious disciplinary violations”was launched last week against Zhou Yongkang, China’s onetime security czar. The ambitious move by Chinese President Xi Jinping pushes his sweeping anti-corruption campaign to new heights and further consolidates his power by ousting a high-level political opponent.
The shakeup may disturb cohesion in the ruling Communist Party — but the potential consequences of the probe stretch well beyond China’s borders. From Iraq to Canada, the corruption investigation is targeting Chinese oil executives and managers linked to Zhou, and it threatens to compromise China’s global energy interests.
Zhou was once head of one of the world’s largest companies: China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), valued at more than $200 billion. The 71-year-old maintains an extensive network in China’s oil industry and throughout its expanding international investments. But his ties to the disgraced political leader Bo Xilai, an adversary of Xi, helped to bring about his downfall.
Read the rest of the article at Vice News
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