MCLC: Chongqing police chief (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Chongqing police chief (1)
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A new twist on the Wang Lijun case.

Kirk

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Source: NYT (2/8/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/world/asia/speculation-grows-over-fate-of
-crime-fighting-chinese-official.html

Speculation Grows Over Fate of Crime-Fighting Chinese Official
By IAN JOHNSON

BEIJING ‹ In a sign that China¹s political season is heating up, reports
circulated widely on Wednesday that one of the country¹s most famous crime
fighters had tried to defect to the United States.

The reports were impossible to confirm, but China¹s social media were
filled with speculation about the fate of Wang Lijun, a one-time rising
star in the western megacity of Chongqing where he is deputy mayor
overseeing public security.

Mr. Wang, a 52-year-old martial arts practitioner, earned a reputation for
busting gangs in the city of 29 million, helping to put its Communist
Party chief, Bo Xilai, on the short list for the powerful Standing
Committee of the Communist Party¹s Politburo.

The party is due to meet later this year for a once-in-a-decade changing
of the top guard. Mr. Bo is already on the 25-member Politburo and has
made no secret of his ambition to take the next step to the Standing
Committee, which currently has nine members.

³It¹s the political season and rumors are flying,² said Zheng Yongnian, a
political scientist and director of the East Asian Institute at National
University of Singapore.

³People are not interested in Mr. Wang Lijun,² he said. ³They¹re
interested in what it means for Bo Xilai.²

According to reports on China¹s microblog, Mr. Wang had sought refuge at
the United States Consulate in Chengdu, several hours from Chongqing,
Tuesday night. The police sealed the area around the building, and
bloggers posted pictures that appeared to show an unusually heavy security
presence in the streets around the building.

A spokesman for the American Embassy in Beijing, Richard Buangan, said
that the embassy had no comment, and that the consulate was under no
threat.

A Chinese reporter with the newspaper Southern Metropolis said that he had
learned from police sources that Mr. Wang had tried to enter the
consulate, but had been arrested and that he had since been flown to
Beijing for questioning. The post was later deleted from the Sina Weibo
microblog.

Mr. Wang had already been transferred from the head of public security to
the city¹s education department, spurring rumors that he was on the way
out.

Adding fuel was a statement by the Chongqing city government that Mr. Wang
had taken sick leave due to anxiety and work-related physical ailments.

Given the secretive nature of Chinese politics, the fact that the rumors
were so widespread suggested that something was amiss. Because Chinese
leaders put such a priority on presenting a united front, at least in
public, the rumors are seen as hurting Mr. Bo.

³For Bo Xilai it¹s not good news,² said Jin Zhong, chief editor of the
China-watching magazine Kaifang in Hong Kong. ³The Communist Party has
always had a lot of internal factions. We don¹t know what most of them are
but when things like this come up to the top it shows that something is
going on.²

Edy Yin contributed research.