Whether a private company can get a loan however depends more on whether it is in a sector that Beijing wants to encourage than on the company's expected profit margin or expected return on investment--according to Shih.

A bank loan sure, but most of the capital private companies are working on aren't coming from banks (especially state owned banks).

OK, but I think the banks do most of the Chinese economy's investing (and Beijing exerts a lot of influence on the nature of that investing by the banks).