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Former high-flying conservative Bo Xilai has been suspended from China s Central Committee, a 200-plus-member top leadershipbody, as well as the more powerful Politburo, now with two dozenmembers. The charge: suspected of being involved in seriousdiscipline violations, said Xinhua news agency on April 10. Andin a stunning development, the state news agency also announcedthat Bo s wife, Gu Kailai, and an orderly from the Bo householdare highly suspected in the homicide of a British businessmanwho died in Chongqing last November. It is the biggest political scandal to hit China in years. Itdestroys any possibility of a smooth transition to the nextgeneration of top leaders slated to take control at the NationalParty Congress, which will happen this fall. That had been theintention of China s party brass, eager to present a unified faceto the world. And it ends the career of the 62-year-old formerparty secretary and princeling son of a Communist Partyrevolutionary whose once-likely ascension to China s StandingCommittee would have made him one of the nine most powerful men inthe country. For Bo, it is an ignominious end to a career that earned himoccasional kudos and plenty of enemies. He was praised for creatingone of China s most livable cities when he ran coastal Dalian inthe 1990s. As minister of commerce from 2004 to 2007, he earned fewfriends among the foreign business community while gaining areputation as a nationalist who favored Chinese state enterprises. Bo s prospects of reaching top office faded when his former chiefof police, Wang Lijun, fled to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu,Sichuan, in an apparent failed bid for political asylum. Now itappears Wang carried with him explosive allegations about Bo swife s involvement in the Chongqing murder, effectively ending anypossibility of Bo ever being promoted again. The unfolding scandalsaw him replaced as Chongqing s party secretary earlier, on March15. Still, until today s announcements, it was unclear if Bo mightavoid serious censure. With jail now a real possibility, that s nolonger the case. Indeed, over the last month, rumors have swirledin Beijing s rambunctious blogosphere that a faction had arisen,led by Zhou Yongkang, a Standing Committee member in charge of lawand order, to support Bo and the neo-conservative policies hepromoted (christened the Chongqing model ). Websites such as neo-Maoist Utopia posted hundreds of articles supporting Bo and the Chongqing model before it was shut on April 6. What those sites supported was the Chongqing model s emphasis onensuring a leading role for the government in running the economy,which included giving favored positions to large state enterprises.Also touted: Chongqing s top-down push to ensure greater socialequality, partly by building subsidized housing for the poor, thesinging of red songs from China s Maoist past, and anaggressive crackdown on crime. As Chairman Mao said as he was building the nation, the goal ofour building a socialist society is to make sure that everyone hasa job to do and food to eat, that everybody is wealthy together, Bo said on March 9, before his dismissal, during last month sNational People s Congress. If only a few people are rich, thenwe ll slide into capitalism. We ve failed. If a new capitalistclass is created, then we ll really have turned onto a wrongroad. Bo s assault on crime, a campaign called dahei literally, hit black ( black society being the phrase fororganized crime or mafia in China) put more than 2,000 people injail in the southwestern municipality of 30 million people andearned him the support of many average Chinese who are concernedabout social stability. These moves also raised the ire of Chineseintellectuals and party members, who saw them as a regressive stepback to a less open and more dogma-ruled China. Bo s use of apopulist-style campaign in his bid to gain a seat on the StandingCommittee also deeply disturbed other leaders, who prefer thebackdoor deal-making approach common in China that rewards partyfunctionaries for keeping a low profile. What comes next is unclear. Bo s wife, Gu Kailai (referred to asBogu Kailai in the Xinhua report), was once on good terms withNeil Heywood, who is believed to have helped the family s son whenhe studied in England. However, they had a conflict over economicinterests, Xinhua reported. Now, Bo s wife has beentransferred to judicial authorities on suspected crime ofintentional homicide, it continued. There is no suggestion thatBo himself was involved in the alleged murder. In a separate Xinhua piece, it was announced that the party sflagship paper, the People s Daily , will run a special commentary on the case on April 11. Based onthe facts made public so far, the Wang Lijun incident is a seriouspolitical event leaving very negative impacts at home and abroad,and the death of Neil Heywood is a serious criminal case involvingthe family and close staff of a Party and state leader, the [ People's Daily ] article says. Bo has seriously violated the Party discipline,causing damage to the cause and the image of the Party and state,it says, according to the Xinhua report on the upcomingcommentary. China is a socialist country ruled by law, and thesanctity and authority of law shall not be trampled. Whoever hasbroken the law will be handled in accordance with law and will notbe tolerated, no matter who is involved and no matter what positionhe is in. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Art CNC Router , Simple Graph Plotter, and more. For more , please visit Laserpoint Vinyl Cutter today!
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