Jiang Jiemin

Analysts argue the investigation, which involves four other top executives of state-owned enterprises, is an attempt by Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang to assert their authority over powerful S.O.E.’s. 

The crackdown on China’s biggest company — also the second-largest oil company in the world — signals the new administration’s determination to exert control over the powerful sector, said Cheng Li, a Brookings Institution scholar.