Privately-run, and headquartered in Xujiahui, a suburb of Shanghai, Huaxin  claims  in English to have an annual turnover of more than RMB 30 billion (about US$5 billion) and a workforce of 12,000. In  the Chinese version only, it claims that the RMB 30 billion is actually just its domestic turnover, and that it also has an overseas turnover of more than ten times that amount — a staggering US$50 billion, which is just under 1/4  PetroChina’s  revenue (and with a workforce only 1/40 the size of PetroChina’s). I’m not saying it can’t be true, but….can it?

So where does this megalith get these billions? The website (in both Chinese and English) says:CEFC specializes in oil, petrochemical and energy industries, with its mission ofsafeguarding national energy security, supporting the development of national strategic industries, and  assisting national expansion and protection of overseas economic interests.[. . .]

At present, it has established comprehensive commercial and industrial systems that involve both the upstream and downstream of the domestic oil and petrochemical industries, and cover the geological areas of Southeast Asia, Middle East, Africa and North America.If it’s an oilfield services company, focusing on security, then perhaps that could explain its pro-war stance?Or could it be driven by the 34-year-old Chairman of the Board, Ye Jianming 叶 简 明 , who is listed asthe founder  of a “Fujian Huaxin Holdings”? (Don’t worry about his recent appointment to the board of another company either — he was definitely still in charge at Huaxin  as of April 28.)Chairman of the Board, Ye Jianming

 

He seems rather young to be in charge of a multi-billion dollar company, and if he’s a self-made billionaire, then he’s done extremely well to maintain such a low profile. Could Ye be a relation of the PLA immortal, and reform-era powerbroker, Marshal Ye Jianying 叶 剑 英 ?The young chairman certainly seems to be  somebody, judging by the copious references in the company  periodical  to “studying Chairman Ye’s” speeches and articles.

 

According to  John Garnaut, one of the most clued-up foreign journalists when it comes to China’s princelings: “Marshal Ye engineered Xi Zhongxun’s appointment as party boss of Guangdong province and probably helped secure a career-building military post for his son Xi Jinping.” As such, Garnaut writes, Xi Jinping “owes a great deal to the families of both Marshal Ye and Hu Yaobang”.Let me stress: I have  scoured  the internet for the past 2 hours and found no evidence that Ye Jianming is a member of Ye Jianying’s family. Nevertheless, it really does seem quite plausible.

 

If the company is anywhere near as big as it claims to be, then being part of the Ye clan is probably the most likely explanation for why such a young guy is in charge of such a huge company. If he is, then we are talking about a very powerful guy. As in,  really, really  powerful — super-rich, with super-strong connections in both party and military.If this is true, then attaching the CEFC label to a media commentary would put the weight of the Ye clan behind it, at least as far as intra-Party and PLA readers are concerned. And Dai Xu has chosen, probably on numerous occasions, to use his “CEFC strategic analyst” title, rather than his National Defense University position.