MCLC: Bo Xilai removed from party post

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: kirk (denton.2 at osu.edu)
Subject: Bo Xilai removed from party post
***********************************************************

Source: NYT (3/15/12):
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/16/world/asia/bo-xilai-ousted-from-communist
-party-post-in-china.html

Upstart Leader in China Is Ousted From Party Post
By ANDREW JACOBS 

BEIJING ‹ Bo Xilai, the brash Communist Party chief of the Chongqing
municipality in China¹s southwest, has been removed from his post, an
unmistakable sign that recent scandals in that city have put an end to his
political ambitions and complicated the national leadership transition
that will take place in the fall.

The news, announced Thursday morning in a brief dispatch by the official
Xinhua news service, said Vice Prime Minister Zhang Dejiang would replace
him as party secretary of Chongqing. Xinhua did not mention a new job for
Mr. Bo or whether he would keep his spot on the party¹s 25-member
Politburo.

Until recently, Mr. Bo had been expected to join the all-powerful Standing
Committee of the Politburo, a nine-member body that effectively runs the
country. Seven of the members are to be replaced, and Mr. Bo¹s demotion
suggests there will be more drama in a usually secret process.

Tall, charismatic and unusually loquacious for a Chinese official, Mr. Bo,
63, a former Commerce minister, is the son of a revolutionary hero and was
well-positioned ‹ thanks to his extensive connections ‹ to ascend the
party hierarchy.
His prospects clouded last month when a handpicked deputy, Wang Lijun,
sought refuge in the American Consulate in Chengdu, a city in Sichuan
Province about 200 miles from Chongqing. Mr. Wang, who had come under
scrutiny in a corruption inquiry, spent the night in the consulate before
being escorted to Beijing by security officials. On Thursday, he was
removed from his post as vice mayor, according to a state media dispatch
issued shortly after Mr. Bo¹s demotion was announced.

For a party obsessed with secrecy and the sheen of stability, the last six
weeks have been especially roiling. Ding Xueliang, a social science
professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said Mr.
Wang¹s visit to the consulate ‹ during which he may have revealed damaging
information about his former boss ‹ set off a cascade of events that has
convulsed the party establishment.

³The Wang Lijun incident has changed the rules of the game by drawing
international attention to internal politics,² said Mr. Ding, a former
Communist Party member. ³What the party fears most are abnormal incidents
like this.²

The drama that spread from Chongqing to the capital in recent weeks has
riveted ordinary Chinese and emboldened Mr. Bo¹s many critics, who
assailed a populist governing style that included a ferocious assault on
criminals, private entrepreneurs and political enemies.

Not long after arriving in the fog-shrouded mountain city in 2007, he
began a ³red² campaign in the sprawling mountain city that called on its
citizens to sing Cultural Revolution-era songs while peppering their
cellphones with Maoist slogans. He also started what became known as the
³Chongqing model² of economic development that included lavish
infrastructure spending and tending to the needs of the municipality¹s
poor.

While popular in the city of 30 million, Mr. Bo¹s style unnerved some who
said his tactics and revolutionary rhetoric threatened to revive the
destructive ways of China¹s leftist past.

Mr. Wang, a longtime ally, was instrumental in carrying out Chongqing¹s
law-and-order juggernaut. As police chief, he took on the city¹s gangs,
arresting 2,000 people, including high-level Communist Party officials
accused of shielding crime lords. Critics also assailed the campaign for
skirting normal judicial procedures; 13 people were executed after speedy
trials.

Mr. Bo¹s notoriety for running roughshod over established legal norms was
heightened by the prosecution of Li Zhuang, a prominent Beijing defense
lawyer who was jailed on charges that he encouraged a client to fake
testimony during his trial in Chongqing. Sentenced to 18 months in prison,
Mr. Li was released early through the intervention of powerful allies in
Beijing but the incident only earned Mr. Bo more foes.

The polarization wrought by Mr. Bo extended through China¹s political
core. Supporters included his patron, former President Jiang Zemin, and
neo-Maoist academics who hailed his wealth-redistribution efforts. Among
his many enemies were liberal reformers and those who favor the
established system of quiet, collective leadership.

Zhang Dejiang, 65, Mr. Bo¹s replacement, is also a member of the ruling
Politburo, who studied economics in North Korea. Like Mr. Bo, he is a
protégé of Mr. Jiang, who wields considerable power despite his failing
health. Analysts say Mr. Zhang¹s appointment as Chongqing party chief
would burnish his chances for ascending to the Standing Committee.

Although Mr. Bo¹s political fortunes darkened after his deputy¹s consulate
escapade, his fate was evidently sealed on Wednesday, when Prime Minister
Wen Jiabao ‹ the country¹s most prominent voice for political reform ‹
made a thinly veiled swipe against him during a news conference marking
the end of the party¹s annual National People¹s Congress.

Prompted by a question from a reporter, Mr. Wen seemed to suggest that Mr.
Bo¹s brand of populism risked reviving the chaos of the Cultural
Revolution. ³The current party committee and government in Chongqing must
seriously reflect on the Wang Lijun incident and learn lessons from that
incident,² he said, his comments broadcast on national television. ³What
has happened shows that any practice that we take must be based on the
experience and lessons we have gained from history.²

One Beijing analyst with senior-level connections said he had heard Mr. Bo
might still face an investigation relating to Mr. Wang¹s case and to
evidence Mr. Wang had provided against him. ³For now, Bo Xilai has been
hung on the rack,² the analyst said, adding that the case could take
months to reach its denouement. ³He has no power and no position.²

That assessment could not be immediately confirmed, and without any word
on a new assignment it was possible Mr. Bo might still have a political
career ‹ even if it proved to be largely ceremonial. One state media
official with ties to the party leadership said he thought the
repercussions for Mr. Bo would end with his demotion, given the delicacy
of factional politics and the party¹s desire to limit public fallout from
the Chongqing scandal.

On Thursday, Sina Weibo, China¹s popular microblog service, dispensed with
the heavy-handed filtering that sometimes excises politically sensitive
chatter. Many of the posts mocked Mr. Bo but others were supportive of his
efforts to spur economic growth, improve the lives of farmers and reduce
the income gap in Chongqing.

³Bo gave us annual 15 percent growth. Every day he give 1.3 million rural
children free eggs and milk,² read one posting. ³He gave rural residents
the same health insurance that urban residents had. I will miss him.²

Jonathan Ansfield and Mia Li contributed research.