MCLC: Bo Xilai purge takes new turn

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: paul mooney (pjmooney at me.com)
Subject: Bo Xilai purge takes new turn
***********************************************************

Source: Wall Street Journal (3/25/12):
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304177104577303740612604260.h
tml 

U.K. Seeks Probe Into China Death
Chinese Leadership Purge Takes New Turn; Police Chief Sought Asylum From
U.S.
By JEREMY PAGE WSJ

BEIJING‹The U.K. has asked the Chinese government to launch an
investigation into the death of a British businessman who claimed to have
close links to the family of Bo Xilai, the Communist Party leader whose
downfall has thrown Chinese politics into turmoil.

The mysterious death of Neil Heywood in the Chinese city of Chongqing last
year is emerging as a key element in the drama surrounding Mr. Bo, who was
sacked as Chongqing's Communist Party chief this month.

Mr. Bo was brought down after his former police chief, Wang Lijun,
triggered the political drama by seeking refuge from Mr. Bo in a U.S.
consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu. Chinese police cars surrounded
the building after he went inside on Feb. 6. After spending the night, he
was taken away by Chinese security agents the following day and hasn't
been seen since.

Mr. Wang claimed to have fallen out with Mr. Bo after discussing his
belief with his boss that Mr. Heywood was poisoned, people familiar with
the case said in interviews with The Wall Street Journal. Mr. Wang also
claimed that Mr. Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, was involved in a business dispute
with Mr. Heywood, according to one of those people.

According to diplomats and other people familiar with the matter, Mr. Wang
asked for political asylum in the U.S. consulate in Chengdu and presented
what he said was documentary evidence against Mr. Bo. He was rejected
because U.S. officials feared accepting him would severely damage
relations with China. He was persuaded to hand himself over to Chinese
central-government officials who took him to Beijing.

Many questions remain in the case. At the least, Mr. Wang's allegation
against his former boss raises the stakes in one of the most bitter and
public power struggles within China's leadership since the 1989 military
crackdown on pro-democracy protesters around Tiananmen Square.

=====================================
Key Events in the Case

November 2011 Neil Heywood is found dead in his hotel room in Chongqing.

Feb. 6, 2012 Wang Lijun, Vice Mayor and former police chief of Chongqing,
enters U.S. consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu, and remains there for
the night. Chinese police surround the consulate.

Feb. 7 After talks with Chongqing Mayor Huang Qifan in the consulate, Mr.
Wang leaves the building and is detained by Chinese security agents.

Feb. 8 Chongqing government says Mr. Wang is suffering from stress and
undergoing "vacationstyle treatment." U.S. State Department confirms he
spent the night in consulate but says he left of his own accord.

March 2 Senior Chinese official says Mr. Wang is being investigated and
progess is being made.

March 9 Bo Xilai, Chongqing Party chief, admits "negligent supervision"
but denies he offered to resign from the Politburo or is under
investigation in relation to the scandal.

March 15 China announces dismissal of Mr. Bo as Chongqing Party chief.

March 25 Britain says it has asked China to open investigation into Mr.
Heywood's death.
===========================================

Mr. Bo, who led a controversial Maoist revival in Chongqing, was until
recently considered a front-runner for promotion to the Party's Politburo
Standing Committee‹its top decision-making body‹in a once-a-decade
leadership change in the fall.

Efforts to contact Mr. Bo, his wife, Mr. Wang and Mr. Heywood's family
were all unsuccessful. A spokesman for the British embassy in Beijing said
the embassy is in touch with Mr. Heywood's relatives and they don't wish
to comment.

Mr. Heywood was found dead in his Chongqing hotel room in November. Local
authorities swiftly declared that he died of "excessive alcohol
consumption," and cremated the body without an autopsy, according to
people familiar with the case. Friends have since raised suspicions with
the British embassy, pointing out that he was a teetotaler.

Ms. Gu, who is Mr. Bo's second wife, studied law and international
politics and after graduation founded the Kailai law firm. She rose to
prominence as a lawyer by handling several high-profile cases, and is
believed to have been the first Chinese lawyer to win a civil case in the
U.S. She also wrote several popular books, including "Winning a Case in
the United States."

Mr. Bo told a news conference during the annual meeting of parliament this
month‹his last public appearance‹that his wife had given up her legal
career two decades ago so that it wouldn't appear that she profited from
his position.

"She now basically just stays at home, doing some housework for me. I'm
really touched by her sacrifice," he said.

The couple has a son, Guagua, who was educated at two private boarding
schools in Britain, followed by Oxford University. He is now at Harvard
University.

But the elder Mr. Bo's political career is now effectively over and his
ultimate fate hangs in the balance as the Party's leadership debates how
to handle a scandal that has disrupted the succession process by exposing
the intense personal rivalries and deep ideological rifts within the
political elite.

Mr. Heywood appeared to be working as an independent businessman and
consultant, according to friends and acquaintances.

Mr. Heywood told several of them that he had close ties to the Bo family
and could help to arrange meetings and business deals there. Several said
he was connected to the Bo family through his Chinese wife, who was from
the northeastern city of Dalian, where Mr. Bo was mayor from 1993 until
2001.

He also worked as a nonexecutive director of Beijing Martin, a local
dealer for Aston Martin, the Britain-based automobile company. Aston
Martin confirms that but said he wasn't directly employed by Aston Martin
and hadn't been working for them in any way in Chongqing.

The British Embassy spokesman also said that, as far as he knew, Mr.
Heywood hadn't been working for the British government in the recent past.

The spokesman said Mr. Heywood's family hadn't complained about how
Chongqing authorities handled his death, and hadn't asked British
officials to publicize or pursue the case further back in November.

"At the time we weren't aware of anything that called into question the
coroner's report," the spokesman said. "There was no reason then to think
there was anything suspicious about the death."

A U.S. Embassy spokesman declined to comment on whether Mr. Wang had
raised Mr. Heywood's case during his stay in the consulate or whether U.S.
officials had passed any information about it to British authorities.

The British Embassy spokesman declined to comment on private discussions
with other governments, or to specify whether British authorities asked
for the fresh investigation as a result of Mr. Wang's visit to the
consulate.

He said that British officials asked Chinese authorities to re-examine the
case "in the early part of this year" after suspicions about the case were
brought to the Embassy's attention by members of the British community in
China.

"We have raised this with Chinese authorities and urged them to
investigate it fully," the spokesman said. "The response was that they
would take it forward," he said, adding that Chinese officials hadn't made
clear what action they would take, or when, regarding the Heywood case.

The scandal surrounding Mr. Bo has broad implications for China's future.
Many of his supporters favor a stronger state role in the economy and
society, while his opponents advocate a greater role for civil society,
private enterprise and the rule of law.

While Mr. Bo's supporters in the leadership argue that he should be only
mildly disciplined over Mr. Wang's actions and given a powerless but
prestigious new job, opponents are thought to be pushing for more serious
punishment, possibly based on Mr. Wang's allegations, according to people
close to the party elite.

Unlike power struggles in previous years, this one is unfolding under the
intense scrutiny of millions of Chinese Internet users, who have been
trading rumors and speculation about possible scenarios over popular
microblogging services.

In the past few days, they have been abuzz with rumors that domestic
security chief Zhou Yongkang, widely believed to be a close ally of Mr.
Bo, was possibly also being purged from the Standing Committee.

Mr. Zhou largely disappeared from public view for part of last week and
didn't attend an important party meeting in Shanghai on Thursday.
Attempts to reach Mr. Zhou were unsuccessful.

Mr. Zhou was one of several top leaders who visited Chongqing in the last
two years and publicly praised Mr. Bo's high-profile crackdown against
organized crime and his campaign to get residents to sing Maoist
revolutionary songs.

Mr. Bo's supporters say he struck a chord with Chinese people in Chongqing
and beyond whose faith in the Party was being eroded by growing income
disparities and escalating corruption and crime.

Critics say he glossed over the horror of the Mao era, when millions of
people died in a man-made famine and the political chaos of the 1966-76
Cultural Revolution.

Write to Jeremy Page at jeremy.page at wsj.com