Until accepting his appointment as chairman of theNational Intelligence Council, Freeman was a paid member of theChinese government-owned China National Offshore Oil Company's international advisory board.
In August, 2003, the scandal prompted the central government to abolish the system, an astonishing case of theChinese press influencing national policy.
In the past month, Chinese legal experts have been unusually excited by a court judgment, little noticed outside the country, whereby an arm of China's nationalgovernment was successfully sued by a private firm in a Chinese court.