" The closest modern equivalents to the Company, however, are the giant state-owned companies of China, such as the Sinopec Group, the petroleum behemoth. As Beijing extends its influence across East Asia and works to secure supplies of oil and other raw materials from Africa to Latin America, its large state firms are and will continue to be critical vehicles of this expansion. "

― Jeffrey E. Garten , From Silk to Silicon: The Story of Globalization Through Ten Extraordinary Lives