A well-known political commentator sharply criticized domestic oil giant Sinopec over a recent round of salary hikes in the business newspaper National Business Daily (in Chinese), claiming that the company is trying to avoid paying mandatory dividends to the government. Columnist Ye Tan said the higher salaries are designed to increase the company’s operating costs in order to lower profits, said Ye. According to a rule implemented in December, major state-owned oil companies are required yield 10% of their profits to the Ministry of Finance to be used for social programs. However, Ye also argued that the policy of mandatory dividends was not reasonable, as it confuses state firms’ social and commercial roles.