MCLC: new scandal over ferrari crash

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: new scandal over ferrari crash
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Source: NYT (9/3/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/04/world/asia/after-ling-jihuas-demotion-new
s-of-sons-crash-in-ferrari.html

China Faces New Scandal Over Crash of a Ferrari
By IAN JOHNSON

BEIJING — China’s carefully scripted leadership transition appears to have
suffered another glitch: a fatal car crash involving a Ferrari, a
privileged son and two women.

According to several well-connected party officials, the crash, on
Beijing’s Fourth Ring Road earlier this year, killed the man on impact and
left both women seriously injured. All were said to have been in various
states of undress, these officials said.

It might have been just another example of China’s crassly rich elite
exercising bad judgment — except for the identity of the driver. On
Monday, the officials said he was the son of one of China’s most powerful
men, Ling Jihua, 55, a close ally of the departing president, Hu Jintao.

The connection had apparently been able to be suppressed until this past
weekend, when Mr. Ling suddenly suffered a demotion
<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/world/asia/party-intrigue-seen-in-chines
e-officials-apparent-demotion.html> instead of a promotion when he left
his role as head of the government’s nerve center, the General Office of
the party’s Central Committee. He will now lead the United Front Work
Department, a less powerful post aimed at improving ties with groups in
society, though some analysts said he could still reach the Politburo at
some point.

The shift comes in the midst of major behind-the-scenes jockeying as the
once-in-a-decade power transition unfolds. “The question is how this will
affect Hu Jintao,” said Joseph Fewsmith, a Boston University professor.
“To have to drop Ling Jihua is embarrassing. He lost a key ally here.”

The most straightforward analysis is that Mr. Ling’s demise could help the
anointed president, Xi Jinping, consolidate power more quickly by
sidelining one of Mr. Hu’s protégés, through whom Mr. Hu might have been
able to exercise power even after retiring. Mr. Ling’s replacement at the
Central Committee is a provincial official, Li Zhanshu, who has been
friends with Mr. Xi since the two served in Hebei Province in the 1980s.
He also has ties to Mr. Hu.

But on another level, Mr. Ling’s downfall could hurt the transition. With
Mr. Ling now essentially sidelined, Mr. Hu and his faction may feel
slighted, implying that carefully shaped compromises intended to ease Mr.
Xi’s rise may be unraveling.

The shift comes just as the leadership has been dealing with another shock
to the system: the fall of a senior leader, Bo Xilai. Mr. Bo lost his
prominent party positions after his wife was detained in the murder of a
British businessman, for which she has now been convicted. An announcement
regarding Mr. Bo’s fate is widely expected in coming weeks, wrapping up
the matter ahead of the 18th Party Congress this fall.

The circumstances surrounding the crash were first posted in June on
overseas Chinese Web sites but remained unconfirmed in mainstream English
media until reported in The South China Morning Post on Monday. Reuters
then also confirmed most of the details
<http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/03/us-china-politics-crash-idUSBRE8
8206J20120903> on Monday, although one of its sources said Mr. Ling’s son
did not die in the crash.

Party officials reached by The New York Times confirmed the son’s death,
the make of the car and the presence of the two women, as well as their
incomplete dress.

The details, salacious as they are, are important because Mr. Bo lost his
positions partly for “family management” failings. Many party members or
their close family members often violate rules by engaging in business or
having less-than-exemplary personal lives — but are expected to keep it
under wraps.

Evaluating the truthfulness of these reports is tricky because various
factions — especially during a transition like the one between Mr. Hu and
Mr. Xi — often leak information to discredit opponents.

This is why the accident became such a hot potato after it occurred. The
government-run Global Times reported on it in March without identifying
the victims. It did say, however, that information, including photos
posted on microblogging sites, had been deleted.

“Whose son was it” who died? said the historian Zhang Lifan. “It was a son
no one dared to claim.”

Andrew Jacobs and Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting, and Mia Li
contributed research.