Or another way of putting it, and always one of the weaknesses of over-powerful government and an impotent judiciary -- political skill trumps business skill.

Play that out long enough, and you have all the "China {X} Industries" being owned by someone whose chief qualification was working their way up the CCP hierarchy. To the detriment of the company's functioning, and the alternate candidates who could perform better in the position.

And that, ultimately, hurts China more than anyone else.

Anti-corruption drives are no substitute for constant, actual market pressures, because weasels will always corrupt the very vehicles you use to implement anti-corruption campaigns. Or equally inevitably, end up in charge of the entire apparatus.