China definitely has the power to influence it's population, miners make no exception, and as a result, it can influence the entire realm of crypto currencies.

Make no mistake, in one hand they encourage mining, but try to discourage the use of crypto currencies as a way to preserve value or payment method, which makes it a perfectly controllable environment for profits.

It doesn't really matter how they use this power to control, all that matters for China in the end is to make money no matter the costs.