Official at centre of Chinese oil purge was a politic businessman

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Throughout his career at China's biggest oil producer, Jiang Jiemin was careful to put politics before business, say colleagues who worked closely with the purged executive.

In strongly supporting government energy strategy, often at the expense of profitability, the former chief of China National Petroleum Company was a vocal proponent of what he called national and social responsibility for state-owned enterprises, according to his speeches and public statements.