• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Suspended official's case shows China's efforts to maintain stability

Central News Agency

2012/04/11 17:51:29

Taipei, April 11 (CNA) A decision by Beijing to refer the case of suspended official Bo Xilai to the party discipline authorities is a means to maintain stability within the Communist Party of China before an important congress set for this autumn, Taiwanese academics said Wednesday.

Bo, former party secretary of Chongqing municipality, was removed from the party Politburo after investigators found that his family was involved in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.

Bo was also kicked out of the party's Central Committee, a punishment that a Taiwanese expert said indicates an end to Bo's political life.

"Without solid evidence, the Communist Party of China would not have taken such drastic action against Bo," said Chang Wu-yueh, director of Tamkang University's Graduate Institute of China Studies.

With China's acknowledgment that Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, is strongly suspected of the murder, and that Bo's behavior has "severely violated party discipline," it seems inevitable that the couple will end up in jail, according to Chang.

By announcing that Bo had broken party discipline, the party wants people to think there is no internal rightist-leftist struggle, according to Chang.

"The party is trying to dispel the impression that the higher echelons of the party are engaged in a power struggle. The latest move against Bo and his wife could also bolster the image that the government attaches great importance to the rule of law," said Chang.

This means that before the party holds an all-important congress this autumn to transfer power to the next generation of leaders, "maintaining stability" will prevail over everything else, Chang added.

Chao Chien-min, a former deputy minister of mainland affairs and now a professor at National Chengchi University, agreed that Bo and Gu's judicial liability has had an adverse impact on President Hu Jintao's "harmonious society" policy, so that the top leadership must do something to polish the government's public image.

Removing Bo from all positions of power and referring him to a party probe could not just solve the problem of leftist-rightist policy debate, but could also create an atmosphere in which Xi Jinping can take over the party's helm during the October party congress, said Chao.

He said that during the era of Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, China has been debating the merits of rightist and leftist policy lines.

The debate was underscored when people looked at Bo's administration of Chongqing -- which focused on public ownership -- as a unique style of leadership, since the party launched its reform policy and greater openness.

(By Su Yen-feng and S.C. Chang)
ENDITEM/J