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ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
 Posted: 31-08-2012 23:32 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Neil Heywood's relatives will not appeal Gu Kailai's suspended death sentence
Wife of Bo Xilai's sentence for murdering British businessman in China likely to be commuted to life imprisonment after two years
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/aug/30/neil-heywood-gu-kailai-no-appeal
Tania Branigan in Beijing
guardian.co.uk, Thursday 30 August 2012 12.36 BST
British businessman Neil Heywood (left) was murdered by Gu Kailai (right), wife of Chinese politician Bo Xilai Photograph: Reuters
Relatives of British businessman Neil Heywood will not challenge Gu Kailai's suspended death sentence for his murder, a lawyer hired by the family said as the deadline for an appeal passed.
The wife of disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai was spared execution at a hearing last week, with a court in Hefei instead handing her the suspended penalty. Many saw that as unusually lenient for premeditated murder: unless she commits another crime while in jail, it will be commuted to life imprisonment after two years.
In China, crime victims and their families have five days to ask prosecutors to appeal against verdicts and sentences. Prosecutors then have another five days to take the matter to the court.
But He Zhengsheng, a lawyer hired by relatives of Heywood to represent them, said on Thursday that they had not contacted him to dispute the decision. He told the Guardian the judgement would therefore take full effect on Friday morning.
The businessman's Chinese widow has not responded to reporters' queries and his family in Britain have chosen not to speak to the media.
A spokesman for Hefei intermediate court said after Gu's hearing that the suspension of the death penalty reflected her regret, the fact she had given information about other people's crimes, and mental impairments she had suffered, which had weakened her self-control.
It also said she believed Heywood was a threat to her son, Bo Guagua, because he had made verbal threats to the young man. Friends of the dead man say they do not believe he would have done so and allege he was smeared to justify a lighter sentence.
Experts say a commuted death sentence usually leads to between 14 and 24 years in prison, and that Gu could be freed on medical parole in as little as nine years.
A family aide, Zhang Xiaojun, was jailed for nine years for the same crime. The court said his sentence was lightened because he was an accessory to the murder, not the instigator, and because he had confessed and shown remorse.
Lawyers for Gu, 53, and Zhang, 33, told the court during the hearing that they would not appeal against the judgement. Experts say there would be little point in them doing so in any case: the Communist party controls China's courts and such a sensitive decision would have been made at the highest level of the party. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 05-09-2012 22:32 Post subject: |
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I predict he will be found guilty. Do I get the Randi prize?
| Quote: | Bo Xilai scandal: Ex-police chief Wang Lijun charged
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19492158
Wang Lijun had a reputation for being tough on organised crime
Bo Xilai scandal
Profile: Wang Lijun
Key players
Scandal timeline
Bo casts long shadow over case
The ex-police chief at the centre of China's biggest political scandal for years has been charged with a number of offences, Chinese state media say.
Wang Lijun is charged with defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking.
He briefly fled to a US consulate in February, triggering a series of events that led to the downfall of the powerful politician Bo Xilai.
Bo Xilai's wife has since been given a suspended death sentence for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Mr Bo had been tipped for promotion to China's highest leadership this year.
The BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing says the charges against Mr Wang appear to be an attempt to bring the scandal to an end before China embarks on a change of leadership later this year.
Gave himself up
Wang Lijun, 52, was the former police chief of the south-western Chinese city of Chongqing and had a reputation for being tough on organised crime.
He was once the subject of a TV drama called Iron-Blooded Police Spirits.
He began his career in law enforcement in the Inner Mongolia Region in 1984 and moved to Chongqing in 2008.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
Martin Patience
BBC News, Beijing
Wang Lijun was regarded as the loyal lieutenant of Bo Xilai - who had been one of China's most powerful politicians.
But when he fled to an American consulate, Wang Lijun was to trigger China's biggest political scandal in a generation.
The career of Bo Xilai is over, his wife has been jailed for murder, and now Wang Lijun is standing trial.
He will almost certainly be found guilty of the charges laid against him.
It is clear that China's leaders want to draw a line under a scandal that has exposed murder, corruption, and abuses of power among its ruling elite.
The charges against Wang Lijun are the latest choreographed move by the Communist party to limit the fall-out of this scandal.
China's leaders do want it to overshadow the country's once-in-a-decade power transition later this year.
He had close ties with the former chief of Chongqing, Bo Xilai, but in early February the Chongqing city government said Mr Wang had been shifted to another job.
Four days later, he fled to the US consulate in nearby Chengdu, where many believe he sought asylum.
He spent the night there but was persuaded to leave a day later. He gave himself up to police and has been in detention since then.
According to the UK Foreign Office, Mr Wang made allegations about Mr Heywood's death while at the consulate.
Shortly afterwards, Bo Xilai was sacked as Chongqing's Communist party chief, and his wife Gu Kailai was accused and later convicted of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood.
'Personal gain'
The charges against Mr Wang have been brought by the authorities in Chengdu - the province that Mr Wang fled to in February, rather than in Chongqing, where he served as police chief.
According to Xinhua news agency, Wang Lijun is suspected of attempting to cover up Gu Kailai's involvement in the Neil Heywood murder.
He knew that Gu Kailai was a suspect, but "consciously neglected his duty and bent the law for personal gain", according to the indictment.
Continue reading the main story
TIMELINE: BO XILAI SCANDAL
6 Feb: Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun flees to the US consulate in Chengdu
15 Mar: Bo Xilai is removed from his post in Chongqing
20 Mar: Rumours suggest Mr Bo could be linked to the death of British businessman Neil Heywood
10 Apr: Bo Xilai is suspended from party posts and his wife, Gu Kailai, is investigated over Mr Heywood's death
26 July: Gu Kailai and Bo family employee Zhang Xiaojun are charged with killing Mr Heywood
9 Aug: Gu Kailai goes on trial for murder
20 Aug: Gu Kailai given suspended death sentence
5 Sep: Wang Lijun charged with defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking
He is also accused of leaving his post without authorisation with the intention of defecting at the US Consulate General in Chengdu.
The authorities also suspect him of forging documents and of accepting huge sums of money in abuse of his position as vice mayor and police chief of Chongqing.
The People's Procuratorate of Chengdu say the evidence against him is "concrete and abundant", Xinhua reports.
Little has been heard of Wang Lijun since his arrest in February, despite the political and criminal fallout his visit to the US consulate in February generated.
Many say that without it, the investigation into Neil Heywood's death may never have been reopened, and murder charges may never have followed.
No date has been set for a trial, but analysts suggest it could be imminent, and that it could be over quickly.
Gu Kailai's murder trial took just one day. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 18-09-2012 12:39 Post subject: |
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Verdict will be given at a later date? Ha! I wonder if the truth of this affair will ever emerge?
| Quote: | Bo Xilai scandal: Wang Lijun 'does not contest charges'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19632036
Wang Lijun triggered the biggest political scandal in China in years
Bo Xilai scandal
Profile: Wang Lijun
Key players
Scandal timeline
Bo casts long shadow over case
The ex-police chief at the heart of China's biggest political scandal in years did not contest the charges against him, court officials have said.
The Chengdu trial of Wang Lijun for defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking began in secret on Monday and ended on Tuesday.
The verdict would be given at a later date, court officials said.
Mr Wang's flight to a US consulate in February sparked events leading to the downfall of top politician Bo Xilai.
Mr Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, was later convicted of killing the British businessman Neil Heywood and given a suspended death sentence, after a trial that lasted a day.
Mr Wang is charged with helping cover up her crime.
China said Tuesday's session was "public" but while state television may broadcast pictures later, reports the BBC's John Sudworth in Chengdu, access to the Intermediate People's Court was tightly controlled and foreign media were kept outside.
But after the case ended a court official read out a statement saying the defendant did not contest the charges - leaving little doubt that the verdict, when it comes, will be a guilty one, adds our correspondent.
Although there was only moderate police presence outside the court, the sensitivity of the case was demonstrated by the fact the first day's hearing was held in secret, because it involved issues of national security, said Mr Wang's lawyer, Wang Yuncai, who is not related to her client.
'Head nurse'
A brief report in state media said Mr Wang was standing trial for ''bribe-taking and bending the law for selfish ends".
''The Chengdu City Intermediate People's Court held a closed-door trial Monday on Wang's two other charges of defection and abuse of power,'' said the Xinhua news agency report.
Earlier Chinese state media reports said the evidence against Mr Wang was "concrete and abundant".
The indictment against him said he knew that Gu was a murder suspect, but "consciously neglected his duty and bent the law for personal gain", Xinhua reported.
According to the UK Foreign Office, Mr Wang made allegations about Mr Heywood's death while at the US consulate in Chengdu.
Shortly afterwards, Mr Bo was sacked. Gu was accused and convicted in August of the murder of Mr Heywood.
Chinese media have been quiet on the trial and searches for Mr Wang's name and related terms have mostly been blocked on China's Twitter-like weibo microblogs.
However, netizens have been using pseudonyms such as "head nurse" - a term that puns on ''deputy mayor'' in Chinese - to make comments. Mr Wang was the deputy mayor of Chongqing.
A microblog user in Guangzhou said: "Good luck, head nurse."
"There should be a public holiday today, and the head nurse's trial should be broadcast live on TV so people can have a chance to learn what is the rule of law," said a microblog user in southern Zhuhai city.
Key congress
The trial comes ahead of a key party leadership congress in China, expected in the coming weeks.
Mr Wang's flight to the US consulate proved an embarrassment for China and threw up issues involving diplomacy and state secrets, analysts say.
But most analysts expect him to be given a suspended death sentence, similar to the one handed to Gu.
At a separate trial on 10 August, four senior police officers from Chongqing admitted to charges of covering up evidence linking Gu to the murder. A court official said they had been given terms of between five and 11 years in prison, AFP reported.
Mr Bo, Mr Wang's former boss in Chongqing, had been tipped for promotion to the top leadership ranks at the party congress before his downfall.
He has not been seen in public since the scandal erupted and is said to be under investigation by the party's disciplinary officials. It is not clear if he will face any criminal charges himself.
Mr Wang, 52, began his career in law enforcement in the Inner Mongolia Region in 1984 and moved to the southwestern city of Chongqing in 2008.
He had a reputation for being tough on organised crime and was once the subject of a TV drama called Iron-Blooded Police Spirits.
At the scene
John Sudworth
BBC News, Chengdu
The influence of the Communist party always looms large over the court system here, and the conviction of Wang Lijun is almost certainly a foregone conclusion.
State media reports have made it clear that he orchestrated the cover-up of the murder of Neil Heywood.
Some might wonder at the irony, though, if he is, as is widely expected, also convicted of attempting to defect.
If Mr Wang had not gone to the US consulate and poured his heart out then it's unlikely that Neil Heywood's death would ever have been investigated, Gu Kailai would still be a free woman, and her husband, Bo Xilai would very likely be about to win himself a seat on the standing committee of the Politburo, China's most powerful political body.
TIMELINE: BO XILAI SCANDAL
6 Feb: Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun flees to the US consulate in Chengdu
15 Mar: Bo Xilai is removed from his post in Chongqing
20 Mar: Rumours suggest Mr Bo could be linked to the death of British businessman Neil Heywood
10 Apr: Bo Xilai is suspended from party posts and his wife, Gu Kailai, is investigated over Mr Heywood's death
26 July: Gu Kailai and Bo family employee Zhang Xiaojun are charged with killing Mr Heywood
9 Aug: Gu Kailai goes on trial for murder
20 Aug: Gu Kailai given suspended death sentence
5 Sept: Wang Lijun charged with defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking
17 Sept: Trial starts in secret in Chengdu
18 Sept: Trial ends, verdict awaited |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 24-09-2012 13:28 Post subject: |
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All neatly tied up.
| Quote: | Bo Xilai scandal: Police chief Wang Lijun jailed for 15 years
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-19690769
The BBC's John Sudworth reports as Wang Lijun is sentenced
Bo Xilai scandal
Profile: Wang Lijun
Key players
Scandal timeline
Bo casts long shadow over case
The ex-police chief at the heart of China's biggest political scandal in years has been sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Wang Lijun was jailed for ''bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power and bribetaking", Xinhua said.
The policeman's flight in February to a US consulate led to the downfall of his ex-boss, top politician Bo Xilai.
Mr Bo's wife was convicted in August of killing UK national Neil Heywood. Wang was accused of helping in a cover-up.
Wang - the former chief of police in the city of Chongqing, where Bo Xilai was Communist Party leader - had faced up to 20 years in jail, but prosecutors called his co-operation "meritorious service".
The ''combined term'' of 15 years in prison included nine years for bribery, seven for bending the law, two for defection and two for abuse of power, state television reported.
Continue reading the main story
''We decided to sentence him to 15 years altogether on all the four charges and deprive [him of] his political rights for one year," court spokesman Yang Yuquan told reporters.
''Wang Lijun said he wouldn't appeal after hearing the verdict," Mr Yang said.
The verdict was ''in accordance with the law'', he added, saying three of Wang's relatives were at the hearing.
Wang's lawyer, Wang Yuncai, also told the Associated Press that the sentence was ''considered normal'' under Chinese law.
The verdict comes as China prepares to select new leaders in coming weeks.
It is due to hold a party congress that will see major changes in the top echelons of leadership, although specific dates have not been announced.
'Bent the law'
Wang's trial took place last week in Chengdu. A court official said after the two-day hearing that he had not contested the charges.
The indictment against Wang said he knew that Gu Kailai - Mr Bo's wife - was a murder suspect.
Wang, however, ''bent the law'' by appointing Guo Weiguo - the deputy chief of Chongqing's Public Security Bureau and ''a close friend'' of both Wang and Gu - to oversee the case , a Xinhua report said.
Wang hid a recording of Gu's account of the killing from the police, the report added.
But conflict arose between Wang and Gu, after which Wang told investigators to ''re-collect, sort through and carefully keep the evidence'' from the case, the report said.
During his term in Chongqing Wang had also committed other offences, including illegally releasing four suspects in return for property and money totalling more than 3m yuan (US$476,000; £294,000), Xinhua said.
Gu Kailai was given a suspended death sentence for the crime. At a separate trial on 10 August, four senior police officers from Chongqing admitted covering up evidence linking her to the murder and were jailed for between five and 11 years.
Mr Bo has not been seen in public since the scandal erupted and is said to be under investigation by the Communist party's disciplinary officials. He has been removed from his official posts.
But it is not known whether the former party chief - who was tipped for promotion to the top ranks before his downfall - will face criminal charges himself.
At Wang's trial last week, Mr Bo was said to have reacted with anger when the police chief told him of his wife's involvement in the murder of Mr Heywood, "boxing the ears" of his former ally.
Mr Bo's populist brand of politics - an authoritarian crackdown on corruption coupled with the promotion of old communist values - is said to have made him enemies, says the BBC's John Sudworth.
They may be pushing for a criminal trial that removes him from the political landscape for a very long time, our correspondent says. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 28-09-2012 13:53 Post subject: |
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Be interesting to see the minutes of the committee hearing which expelled him from the CP. Doubt if much will come out at his trial.
| Quote: | China's Bo Xilai expelled and accused of corruption
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19755035
Damian Grammaticas reports: "Murder, corruption and cover-up" exposed at the heart of powerContinue reading the main story
Bo Xilai scandal
Profile: Bo Xilai
Key players
Scandal timeline
Life in the fast lane
Top Chinese politician Bo Xilai has been expelled from the Communist Party and will face justice, state media say.
Mr Bo, the ex-Communist Party leader in the city of Chongqing, is accused of abuse of power and corruption.
His wife, Gu Kailai, was given a suspended death sentence in August for killing UK national Neil Heywood.
The scandal has overshadowed the party congress that will oversee China's change of leadership. It will begin on 8 November, state media have announced.
The BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing says the Bo Xilai announcement ends months of speculation over the fate of a man who was once one of China's most powerful politicians.
Our correspondent says it is clear China's leaders wanted to try to end the damaging revelations, with the once-in-a-decade leadership change looming.
He says Mr Bo's career is over and he will almost certainly spend time in jail.
'Grave repercussions'
Mr Bo has not been seen in public since shortly after the scandal erupted and was said to be under investigation. He was suspended from his party posts in April.
Reporting an official statement from a party leaders' meeting, the state news agency, Xinhua, said Mr Bo stood accused of corruption, abuse of power, bribe-taking and improper relations with women.
Bo Xilai (C) with convicted wife Gu Kailai and son Bo Guagua
The statement carried by Xinhua said Mr Bo "took advantage of his office to seek profits for others and received huge bribes personally and through his family".
It added: "Bo's behaviour brought serious consequences, badly undermined the reputation of the party and the country, created very negative impact at home and abroad and significantly damaged the cause of the party and people".
The statement urged "party organisations at all levels" to take heed of the "negative example" of the Bo Xilai case.
Xinhua said the violations included Mr Bo's time as an official in Dalian and Liaoning provinces, and as minister of commerce.
"Bo had affairs and maintained improper sexual relationships with a number of women," the statement added.
Xinhua said Mr Bo had been expelled from the party and the elite decision-making Politburo and Central Committee as he had "abused his power, made severe mistakes and bore major responsibility in the Wang Lijun incident and the intentional homicide case of [Gu Kailai]".
Continue reading the main story
Timeline: Bo Xilai scandal
6 Feb: Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun flees to the US consulate in Chengdu
15 Mar: Bo Xilai is removed from his post in Chongqing
20 Mar: Rumours suggest Mr Bo could be linked to the death of British businessman Neil Heywood
10 Apr: Mr Bo is suspended from party posts and his wife, Gu Kailai, is investigated over Mr Heywood's death
26 July: Gu Kailai and Bo family employee Zhang Xiaojun are charged with killing Mr Heywood
9 Aug: Gu one-day trial for murder held
20 Aug: Gu given suspended death sentence
5 Sep: Wang charged with defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking
24 Sep: Wang sentenced to 15 years in jail
28 Sep: Bo Xilai expelled from party to "face justice"
Scandal timeline
Wang Lijun was Chongqing's former police chief who was sentenced to 15 years in jail for ''bending the law, defection, abuse of power and bribetaking" in the Neil Heywood case.
There was speedy reaction to the latest news on China's social media sites.
On Sina Weibo, Shenjing Jihua posted that Mr Bo had "finally met his end", adding: "So justice will prevail, and there is still hope for China."
Although there were some postings in support of Mr Bo, others broadened the affair into a critique of Chinese corruption.
Huaju Yanyuan on QQ.com said: "The case of Bo Xilai tells us that one overlooked event led to a series of troubles, and that there isn't any clean official in China."
Xinhua has also announced that the party congress, which will herald the change of China's leadership, will begin on 8 November.
The Bo Xilai scandal has been China's biggest in decades and has cast a long shadow over the run-up to the congress, which is expected to see Xi Jinping replace Hu Jintao as president.
Mr Bo, 63, had been a prime candidate for a top post before the scandal broke.
It started when Wang Lijun fled to a US consulate in February, alleging that Gu Kailai had poisoned Neil Heywood to death in November 2011.
Gu was convicted of killing Mr Heywood after a multi-million dollar business deal turned sour. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 01-10-2012 17:30 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Son defends disgraced Bo Xilai as 'upright in his beliefs and devoted to duty'
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2012/1001/1224324666833.html
Ryan says Romney's remark on American entitlement a 'misstep'
The Harvard-educated son of disgraced Chinese political leader Bo Xilai defended his father against charges of taking bribes and having improper sexual relationships, saying he believed in his father’s good character.
“Personally, it is hard for me to believe the allegations that were announced against my father, because they contradict everything I have come to know about him throughout my life,” Bo Guagua said in a statement.
“Although the policies my father enacted are open to debate, the father I know is upright in his beliefs and devoted to duty.”
Since graduating from Harvard University in May with a master’s degree in public policy, Mr Guagua (24) has kept a low profile, in contrast to reports earlier this year of a playboy lifestyle in the US that created a firestorm on the internet in China. – (Reuters) |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 22-10-2012 12:49 Post subject: |
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This is not going to go away. They may have silenced Bo by giving his wife a suspended death sentence but others are speaking out.
| Quote: | China open letter opposes Bo Xilai parliament expulsion
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-20024880
Mr Bo has not been seen in public since mid-March
A group of Chinese leftists have written an open letter asking parliament not to expel disgraced leader Bo Xilai.
The letter, signed by more than 300 academics and former officials, was carried on the left-wing Chinese-language website Red China.
It said the move was legally questionable and politically motivated.
China's leftists are a small but vocal group to whom Mr Bo's populist policies appealed.
Expulsion from parliament would remove Bo Xilai's immunity, meaning he could be prosecuted over the scandal that has seen his wife jailed.
'Defend himself'
More than 300 academics and former party officials signed the letter in support of the former Chongqing Communist Party leader.
"What is the reason provided for expelling Bo Xilai? Please investigate the facts and the evidence," the letter said.
"Please announce to the people evidence that Bo Xilai will be able to defend himself in accordance with the law."
Those who signed include Li Chengrui, former director of the National Bureau of Statistics, a law professor at Peking University, local legislators, members of the now-closed online leftist forum Utopia, as well as a rights activist in Zhejiang.
Many Chinese internet users cannot access the Red China website, which has supported Bo Xilai, and the letter so far does not appear to have been reported in state media.
But the letter exposes the deep divisions that continue to exist within the party over the Bo Xilai affair, reports the BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing.
Mr Bo's flamboyant populist style - including the promotion of old party songs and his policies for state-led growth - pitted him against reformist colleagues, our correspondent adds.
He has not been seen in public since mid-March, shortly after the scandal erupted and it was announced he was under investigation.
He was suspended from his party posts in April and expelled from the Communist Party in September. State media says he faces charges related to corruption, abuse of power and bribe-taking.
His wife Gu Kailai was convicted of killing Mr Heywood after a multi-million dollar business deal turned sour.
But, says our correspondent, supporters maintain that Mr Bo's enemies have used this scandal to end his career for political reasons.
Mr Bo, 63, had been a prime candidate for a top post in the leadership handover set for next month before the scandal broke.
Analysis
Angus Foster
BBC News
China's leftists are a small but vocal group of academics and officials who argue that market reforms have gone too far, and the socialist goals of China's Communist Party founders have been forgotten.
They are not influential, and their viewpoints are not reported in the official media.
But the rise and fall of Bo Xilai, who they saw as a standard-bearer, has given them more prominence. They liked Mr Bo's housing projects for the poor, and his spreading of Mao-era nostalgia and Red Songs.
China's new leaders, set to be unveiled next month, will be keen to address some issues the leftists are raising - like a rising gap between rich and poor.
But nobody expects them to hark back to the past or change China's commitment to further economic reform.
Gu Kailai was given a suspended death sentence earlier this year over the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Mr Bo's former police chief and right-hand man Wang Lijun has also been jailed in connection with the scandal.
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 04-11-2012 14:22 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Communist Party expels Bo Xilai
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2012/1104/breaking7.html
Sun, Nov 04, 2012
China's leaders have ended their latest closed-door conclave with a decision to formally expel disgraced politician Bo Xilai from the Communist Party.
The move paves the way for his criminal prosecution.
The ruling Communist Party today ratified the expulsion of Mr Bo, a former Chongqing party boss, and also Liu Zhijun, one-time railway minister, who was sacked last year for "serious disciplinary violations".
The developments were reported by state news agency Xinhua said at the close of the secret four-day meeting.
Their expulsions were the latest in a string of punishments doled out by a party keen to show it is clamping down on official corruption just days ahead of a five-yearly party congress expected to usher in a new generation of leaders.
The "seventh plenary session of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Sunday endorsed a decision ... to expel Bo Xilai", Xinhua said in a brief report.
The government accused Mr Bo in September of corruption and of bending the law to hush up his wife's murder of a British businessman. He has yet to be formally charged. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 06-11-2012 13:57 Post subject: |
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Curiouser and curiouser,
| Quote: | Neil Heywood: Briton killed in China 'had spy links'
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-20216757
Mr Heywood met with an MI6 officer for at least a year, the Wall Street Journal says
A British businessman killed in China had been providing information to the British secret service, the Wall Street Journal newspaper claims.
Neil Heywood had been communicating with an MI6 officer about top politician Bo Xilai for at least a year before he died, the paper said.
The UK Foreign Office said it would not comment "on intelligence matters".
In April, Foreign Secretary William Hague said Mr Heywood was not a government employee "in any capacity".
The case is at the heart of China's biggest political scandal in decades.
The November 2011 death of Mr Heywood brought down Mr Bo, the former Communist Party chief of Chongqing and a high-flier who was once tipped for top office.
Mr Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, was jailed in August for the murder of Mr Heywood at a Chongqing hotel. His former police chief, Wang Lijun, has also been jailed in connection with the scandal.
Mr Bo himself was expelled from parliament in September, stripping him of immunity from prosecution. He is accused of abuse of power, bribe-taking and violating party discipline, Chinese state media say, and is expected to go on trial in the future.
'Met regularly'
Ever since Mr Heywood's death plunged China into political crisis, there have been claims the Briton may have been a spy, says the BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing.
Citing unnamed friends and British officials, the Wall Street Journal said that while Mr Heywood was not an MI6 employee, he had knowingly passed on information to the organisation.
"The Journal investigation, based on interviews with current and former British officials and close friends of the murdered Briton, found that a person Mr Heywood met in 2009 later acknowledged being an MI6 officer to him," the Wall Street Journal says in its report.
"Mr Heywood subsequently met that person regularly in China and continued to provide information on Mr Bo's private affairs."
Mr Heywood's relatives declined to comment, the paper added.
The British Foreign Office told BBC News it was "a long-standing policy that we don't comment on intelligence matters".
Mr Bo (C) faces the possibility of trial, while his wife Gu Kailai (L) has been jailed for murder
In a letter to a British MP on 26 April, Mr Hague addressed speculation over Mr Heywood, even as he said it was "long established government policy neither to confirm nor deny speculation of this sort".
"However, given the intense interest in this case it is, exceptionally, appropriate... to confirm that Mr Heywood was not an employee of the British government in any capacity," he said.
The newspaper, citing unidentified sources, says this was technically true because Mr Heywood was not paid for his information.
But, says our correspondent, there are new questions about why, if Mr Heywood was known to Britain's intelligence services, British officials did not press their Chinese counterparts for a thorough investigation as soon as they knew he had died.
Mr Heywood, 41, had lived in China from the early 1990s, where he learned fluent Mandarin.
The nature of his association with Mr Bo and his wife Gu is not clear, but he has been described in some reports as a financial middleman. Chinese state media say Gu Kailai killed him over a business deal that went sour.
The case first came to light when police chief Wang Lijun fled to the US consulate in February, reportedly after falling out with Mr Bo over the Heywood case.
Chinese officials subsequently ordered that an investigation into Mr Heywood's death be reopened. Police had originally said he died of over-consumption of alcohol.
Five senior police officers in Chongqing have also been jailed, Chinese state media say, for covering up the case. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 25-07-2013 14:47 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | China's Bo Xilai: Disgraced politician charged
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-23429676
Mr Bo was removed from his post in March 2012
China has charged disgraced politician Bo Xilai with bribery, corruption and abuse of power, state media say.
Bo Xilai, formerly the Communist Party chief of Chongqing, was expelled from the party after a scandal surrounding the murder of a British businessman.
His wife Gu Kailai was jailed in August for the killing of the Briton, Neil Heywood.
Mr Bo was charged by prosecutors on Thursday in Jinan in Shandong province, state media said.
The Bo Xilai scandal, which exposed corruption claims and infighting at the top of the Communist Party, was one of the biggest to rock China in years.
Mr Bo had taken advantage of his office to accept an "extremely large amount" of money and properties, state-run news agency Xinhua said, citing the indictment paper.
He is also charged with embezzling public money, Xinhua said.
Murder investigation
The sending of the formal indictment to a court in the city of Jinan suggests the trial is now imminent, the BBC's John Sudworth in Shanghai reports.
However, no trial date has been announced yet.
Neil Heywood
Neil Heywood was a consultant to foreign businesses seeking investment in China
It is common for high-profile political trials to take place in provinces away from where the accused is based, as they are considered more likely to gain beneficial treatment in their home province.
Mr Bo's wife Gu Kailai was tried in a court in Hefei, Anhui province, far from Chongqing.
Mr Bo was previously considered a rising star in the Communist Party, and one of the country's most powerful officials.
However, he came under criticism after his former police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to the US consulate in Chengdu in February 2012, spending a day there.
Wang made allegations about British businessman Neil Heywood's death while at the consulate, reports said.
Heywood had died in Chongqing the previous year. The Wang Lijun incident prompted an investigation into his death.
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
image of John Sudworth
John Sudworth
BBC News, Shanghai
So the stage has been set for the trial of a man who was once one of China's most powerful and - rare in the grey-suited world of Communist Party politics - charismatic politicians.
Of course, some have suggested that it was that charisma, coupled with the unique brand of populist politics he practised in Chongqing, that may have earned him powerful enemies all too willing to hasten his demise.
Having been stripped of his party positions more than a year ago, it has since been a question of not if, but when Bo Xilai will be convicted, as per the norms of Communist Party justice.
The publishing of the indictment means that the trial is now imminent and the country's new leaders have judged the timing to be right for such a politically sensitive trial, perhaps wanting to get it out of the way ahead of the big economic planning meeting in the autumn.
But it is still risky. Mr Bo's fall has highlighted cracks in the Communist Party edifice. A commentary published by a state-run news agency warns against resistance to the decision, calling on local governments to "defend the authority" of the Beijing leadership.
China media: Bo Xilai charges
Mr Bo was suspected of trying to cover up the murder, and was stripped of his party positions.
Mr Bo's wife Gu Kailai was charged with Heywood's murder, and given a suspended death sentence, which is usually commuted to life imprisonment in China.
Wang, meanwhile, was jailed for 15 years for defection, power abuse and bribe taking.
Populist policies
Mr Bo was popular in his role as party chief in Chongqing.
He was known for two high-profile campaigns: a large-scale crackdown on crime, and a drive to promote China's old communist values.
Despite his charisma, his penchant for the limelight set him apart from other Chinese politicians.
According to analysts, his ambition and flamboyant style earned him enemies and was considered controversial by party leaders.
His populist brand of Maoist nostalgia, such as his encouragement of the public singing of old communist songs, was seen as dangerous by China's more reform-minded leaders, our correspondent says.
On China's microblogs, many users expressed support for the indictment against Mr Bo.
"The handling of Bo Xilai's serious disciplinary violations has again proved the party's 'zero tolerance' attitude to corruption," a user by the name of God's Drop Shadow wrote on Sina Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like site.
"I support President Xi's efforts to fight the tigers when it comes to corruption, and clear corrupt elements for the good of the country and the people," user qixiya0 said.
Xi Jinping had previously used the terms "tigers" and "flies" to describe corrupt officials at all levels.
However, evidence of Mr Bo's popularity could still be found online.
"I don't really understand politics, but from when I first knew of Bo Xilai, my impression of him has been of a leader who would teach young people, just like an elder. Despite what has happened, in my heart he will still be like that," Sina Weibo user Small Ears are the Two Large Flowers in Legends wrote. |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 22-08-2013 13:02 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Bo Xilai denies China bribes as trial opens in Jinan
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-23776348
Martin Patience: Bo Xilai apparently showed "feistiness" in court
Disgraced Chinese politician Bo Xilai has fought back in court against charges of bribery on the opening day of the country's biggest political trial in decades.
Mr Bo said he was coerced into making a confession and rubbished testimony from witnesses who included his wife.
The former Chongqing Communist boss is also charged with corruption.
He faces charges of abuse of power relating to his wife's role in the murder of a British businessman.
Two years ago the 64-year-old high-flier was seen as a candidate for promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee, China's seven-member top decision-making body.
But in February 2012, as China prepared for its once-in-a-decade leadership handover, questions emerged over the death of a British businessman, Neil Heywood.
Mr Bo's downfall was seen as the biggest political shake-up to hit China's ruling elite in decades. His wife, Gu Kailai, has since been convicted of Mr Heywood's murder.
Correspondents say the trial is as much about getting rid of a popular politician as it is about criminal wrongdoing. Mr Bo is widely expected to be found guilty.
'Fairly and justly'
The trial - which started at 08:30 (00:30 GMT) - is taking place at the Intermediate People's Court in Jinan, in eastern Shandong province. The court is providing an account of proceedings on its official microblog.
"I hope the judge will try this case fairly and justly according to the law of the country," Mr Bo reportedly said.
Five of Mr Bo's relatives are said to be in court, along with 19 journalists and 84 other people. Foreign journalists have not been allowed in.
According to the indictment posted by the court, Mr Bo is accused of receiving bribes totalling 21.8m yuan ($3.56m; £2.28m) from two Dalian-based businessmen.
Mr Bo denied accepting any money in the form of bribes.
The court microblog quoted him as saying about one of the cases: "That [businessman] Tang Xiaolin gave me three bribes - that did not happen. He asked me to help him sort out something, and these were all done according to procedure."
Mr Bo said he had admitted this "against his will" under questioning, adding: "What I meant was that I was willing to take the legal responsibility but I had no idea of all these details back then."
Using surprisingly strong language, he described Tang Xiaolin as a "crazy dog" who was "selling his soul" to reduce his sentence, which brought a rebuke from the judge.
He also described testimony provided by prosecutors from his wife as "ridiculous". In written evidence to the court, Gu said she had seen a large amount of money in the family's safes, matching the amount allegedly given to Mr Bo from Mr Tang.
The abuse of power charge is connected to his wife's role in Mr Heywood's murder and his treatment of Wang Lijun, his now-jailed former police chief whose flight to the US consulate brought the case out into the open, the court indictment said.
Analysis
Celia Hatton
BBC Beijing correspondent
Is the Bo Xilai trial an act of tightly scripted political theatre or an unexpectedly colourful legal showdown?
The Chinese authorities have taken pains to demonstrate that this trial is seemingly open and transparent by issuing a constant stream of updates on Weibo, China's version of Twitter.
However, the updates offer a limited, one-sided view of what is going on in the courtroom.
Criticisms of the trial have been deleted from Weibo, leaving the Jinan court's account of the proceedings as the only real source of information on the trial.
On the other hand, even the bite-sized bits of information on Weibo cannot hide that Bo Xilai's testimony has been surprisingly belligerent. He has disputed charges and witness testimony against him, including that of his own wife.
Mr Bo's seemingly energetic defence might also be part of the authorities' attempts to demonstrate that the former Chongqing Party boss will receive a fair hearing. Is this a game of legal smoke and mirrors? We have no choice but to continue to follow Weibo for more updates.
Bo Xilai trial as blogged by the court |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 23-08-2013 13:30 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Bo Xilai rejects 'crazy' wife Gu Kailai's testimony at trial
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-23806575
BBC's John Sudworth outside the court, which journalists are not allowed in: Bo Xilai said "she has changed, she's gone mad, she always lies"
Former top Chinese politician Bo Xilai has dismissed testimony from his wife, Gu Kailai, at his trial, saying she was unstable and had been coerced.
Video footage and written testimony from Gu, who was convicted last year of the murder of Neil Heywood, was posted on the court's official microblog.
In it she said she felt Neil Heywood was a threat to her son, Bo Guagua.
She also spoke of receiving gifts from a Dalian entrepreneur, Xu Ming, from whom Mr Bo is accused of taking bribes.
Bo Xilai, the former Chongqing Communist Party chief, is accused of bribery, corruption and abuse of power.
The trial is to continue for a third day on Saturday, Xinhua news agency reported.
On Thursday Mr Bo denied bribery, saying he had been forced into admitting it to prosecutors, and rubbished testimony from witnesses including his wife.
Of her testimony on Friday, he reportedly said: "In her unstable mental state, prosecutors put pressure on her so she would turn on me."
Foreign media are not being allowed into the trial, which is taking place in the city of Jinan in Shandong province.
But the Jinan Intermediate People's Court is posting updates and relevant testimony on its official microblog in Mandarin, excerpts of which have been translated by the BBC.
It remains unclear, says the BBC's Celia Hatton in Beijing, whether the events as described by the court constitute tightly-scripted political theatre or an unexpectedly colourful legal showdown.
Analysts say the trial is as much about getting rid of a popular politician as it is about criminal wrongdoing. Mr Bo is widely expected to be found guilty.
Gu Kailai appeared relaxed on the video
Gu Kailai appeared relaxed and lucid on the video
"It would be inconceivable if the verdict has not already been agreed," said Steve Tsang, professor of Chinese studies at Nottingham University.
"The trial of someone as important as Bo Xilai is not something that could be left to the judges presiding over it."
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
[The authorities] have mounted a display of openness while keeping risks under control in a highly skilful manner”
Zhang Zhi'an
Journalism professor, Sun Yet-sen University
Transparency or theatre?
'Ask Xu Ming'
Mr Bo's downfall was seen as the biggest political shake-up to hit China's ruling elite in decades. In February 2012 his police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to the US consulate in Chengdu amid an apparent fall-out with Mr Bo.
Shortly afterwards, Chinese authorities announced that they were reinvestigating the death of Mr Heywood, who died in a Chongqing hotel in November 2011.
Gu Kailai has since been jailed for the murder of Mr Heywood - a crime she carried out, state media say, because of differences over a business deal.
In written testimony to the court, she said she believed that the personal safety of her son "was under threat".
"In the second half of 2011 Guagua made a video call to me on his iPad telling me that Neil Heywood threatened him," she said. Subsequent e-mails between the two scared her, she said.
"After the video call I was very worried which led to the 15 November crime [when Neil Heywood was killed]."
Written testimony from Patrick Devillers, a French architect, meanwhile, pointed to conflict between Gu Kailai and Neil Heywood over a financial deal related to a villa in France that has been a focus of the bribery charges.
It was paid for by Xu Ming, the court heard on Thursday, one of two men from whom Mr Bo is accused of receiving bribes totalling 21.8m yuan ($3.56m; £2.28m).
In her video testimony Ms Gu said it was true that Xu Ming had bought things for her and her son, Bo Guagua.
"When we need to book a flight, family members know to ask from Xu Ming," she said.
Bo Xilai, responding to his wife's testimony, is reported to have said: "How much credibility is there are about Bo Gu Kailai's testimony, and her written material? Bo Gu Kailai has changed and she became crazy and lies all the time."
It is not clear how long the trial will last. Mr Bo is the last major player in connection with the Neil Heywood case to face judicial proceedings.
His son, Bo Guagua, remains in the US, where earlier this week he said any verdict would carry no moral weight if his "well-being has been bartered for my father's acquiescence or my mother's further co-operation".
He also said his mother had been unwell since 2006, following a "sudden collapse of her physical health
Bo trial: Day one
Indictment says Bo took bribes from Xu Ming and Tang Xiaolin, either directly or via his wife and son; abused his power in connection with the murder of Neil Heywood; and embezzled 5m yuan of public funds from the Dalian government in 2002
Bo calls on the judge to try the case "fairly and justly according to the law of the country"
Bo denies taking bribes from Tang and Xu, calling Tang a "crazy dog
snapping at things for reward" and cross-examining Xu on the stand
Bo dismisses his wife's testimony - which related to cash held in a safe - as "ridiculous"
Xu tells the court he bought a villa for Gu Kailai and paid Bo Guagua's credit card bill
Trial transcripts - day two
Key players
Timeline
y
Analysis
Celia Hatton
BBC Beijing correspondent
The first day of Bo Xilai's trial certainly yielded some unexpected fireworks. Mr Bo mounted a surprisingly spirited defence of the charges that have been levelled against him so far.
However, many in China are waiting to see if the second day of the trial will deal with something far juicier: the abuse of power charges.
The former top official is accused of exploiting his lofty position for his own benefit. He is alleged to have ordered a cover-up of his wife's involvement in the murder of British businessman, Neil Heywood.
When dealing with corruption charges, the court prosecutors relied on the testimony of Bo Xilai's wife, Gu Kailai, and the wealthy businessmen who reportedly greased the palms of the powerful Mr Bo.
The authorities in charge of the trial have taken pains to demonstrate that Mr Bo is receiving a fair, open hearing. But when dealing with the abuse of power charges, how much will they allow prosecutors to reveal about the inner workings of the Party itself?
What Chinese make of trial |
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 30-08-2013 01:18 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | China: Populism and plutocracy
http://www.cpgb.org.uk/home/weekly-worker/975/china-populism-and-plutocracy
The trial of Bo Xilai reveals contradictions at the top of Chinese society, argues Paul Demarty
The story of Bo Xilai, as has been widely observed, has all the trappings of a grand Hollywood conspiracy thriller. A senior figure in the Chinese Communist Party, a member of its politburo and its secretary for the vast city of Chongqing, Bo has been brought low, expelled from the party amid allegations ranging from bribery to murder.
The very public nature of his downfall has had the effect of opening the lid on the bizarre, hybrid society that is today’s China: a ‘communist’ government simultaneously overseeing vast state enterprises and a cheap labour pool for foreign capital; vast megalopoles such as Chongqing springing up amid rural poverty; Stalinist bureaucrats amassing vast wealth. And so, while Bo’s story bears more than a passing resemblance to State of play, it could only have happened in China.
Bo is the son of Bo Yibo, one of the ‘eight elders’ who formed a kind of collective leadership around Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s - he is, in CCP terms, royalty. A political career was inevitable, and initially had the character to be expected from a man of his extraction - support for the economic liberalisation policies of Deng and his successors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao. When he was posted to Chongqing, however, his tune partially changed.
Bo’s name became heavily associated with the ‘Chongqing model’ (though now the party leadership is attempting to downplay his role), which was a contradictory phenomenon even by Chinese standards. On the one hand, it involved breakneck-pace economic development, a cut in the corporate tax rate to 15% (the national rate is 25%) and thus the rapid expansion of transnational export-led production. Hewlett Packard, BASF and FoxConn (the latter infamous for the high rate of suicide among their workers) expanded into Chongqing on a large scale. The city now boasts a population of 28 million.
It is the other side of this model that has attracted most attention in Chinese and western coverage of the scandal - an aggressive, assertive populism with heavy Maoist overtones. Bo initiated a heavy-handed crackdown on organised crime; he employed large-scale deficit spending to reverse, or at least stem, the nationwide attacks on China’s formerly famous welfare system - the so-called ‘iron rice bowl’ - with a substantial extension of social housing.
He also initiated various campaigns to encourage ‘red culture’, from mass text messages to the general population featuring aphorisms of the Great Helmsman to the promotion of old revolutionary songs, to Cultural Revolution-style campaigns to get students to spend some time working in the countryside.
Whether this febrile mix actually worked is a hotly contested matter among the different factions of Chinese politics. Chongqing posted very impressive growth statistics during Bo’s tenure - 14.3% in 2008, for instance, as opposed to the national figure of 8%.1 How much of this is down to massive infrastructure projects and how much to industrial production is another matter; Bo certainly was profligate with the public purse, and $34 billion-worth of stimulus funds went to the city that same year.
As any self-respecting party leader would, meanwhile, he made himself and his family very rich indeed. The life so far of his son, Guagua, tells the whole story - educated at Harrow, Balliol College Oxford and finally the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, he has also enjoyed $150,000 holidays in Africa, the use of a villa in the south of France and all manner of additional perks denied, it is fair to say, to most young men of his generation, in China or elsewhere. Yet this life story is hardly atypical of the children of top party bureaucrats in China, nor is the grasping nature of the Bo family particularly egregious. The political sensitivity of senior ‘communists’ rolling in such wealth means that farming such riches out to close family members is a common practice.
It is the exact means by which Bo amassed this wealth which are, among other matters, the substance of the trial today. At some point, he and his wife entered into business relations with a British citizen, Neil Heywood; the death of the latter set in motion Bo’s downfall, after the local police chief (and former close ally) brought evidence of his family’s involvement to the American consulate. Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, ultimately confessed to and was convicted of Heywood’s death (all the usual caveats concerning ‘confessions’ in Stalinist countries apply here, of course). The latter’s alleged role as a middleman for bribes, and a means for getting Bo’s vast fortune out of the country, are heavily implicated in Bo’s trial.
It is clear that the CCP hierarchy has turned against Bo. His considerable popularity has become tied to a populist-Maoist leftism, which is in any case on the rise among sections of the Chinese intelligentsia. The Chinese ‘new left’, both in its ‘moderate’ and full-blown Maoist forms, is certainly willing to go against the official line. Websites with names like Utopia and Maoflag have been staunch in their support of Bo, however blatant his corruption.
Another oddity in the case is this: the core leadership has allowed the trial to be conducted in a more superficially fair manner - and allowed Bo to defend himself vocally as part of that. On the one hand, it appears that the ruling group does not want to aggravate factional divisions in the party, and thus does not want to be seen to be clamping down too hard on a prominent, popular figure on the party’s left. Bo will still almost certainly be jailed for at least a decade - but he has had the ear of the nation for five days, uniquely among disgraced Stalinist leaders. On the other hand, and despite his fall from grace, it is by no means certain that Bo is no longer a power-broker.
Political revolution?
Leon Trotsky’s last political prognoses for Stalin’s Soviet Union are well known and well rehearsed. The bureaucratic ruling caste had succeeded in elevating itself above the Soviet population, but not in eradicating all the gains of October; thus splits would inevitably occur among the bureaucracy on left-right lines, opening up the possibility of political revolution.2
It was a serious, well-argued perspective, but ultimately blown apart by events. When the Stalinist regimes finally entered their terminal crisis, no significant section of the bureaucracy, nor any significant section of the general population, rose to defend and transform state planning or property. After four to seven decades of Stalinist barbarism, everybody wanted capitalism - from the kleptocratic former officials who made off with the economy, to the beleaguered working class.
This is worth bringing up here, inasmuch as something along the lines of Trotsky’s prognosis appears to be germinating in China. The very serious and substantial concessions to capitalist production - the large-scale foreign investment and enormous export market - seem to be producing the kind of political contradictions that Trotsky expected to emerge in the USSR (and his followers expected, too, in the eastern European satellite states).
After all, this massive wave of capitalist accumulation has occurred not so much in spite of, but rather because of, the continued grip on power by the Communist Party, its retention of control over enormous state industrial and financial enterprises. This has allowed the stimulation of production, the attraction of foreign investment through tight political control of the labour force and the trade unions, and so forth. The tapping of vast reserves of labour in the countryside - and the obscene superexploitation of the same people - present a very attractive opportunity for a thriving export market in producer and consumer goods.
It has also been a very obvious economic success story - so much so, in fact, that we constantly read starry-eyed Sinophiles looking forward to a grand New Chinese Century. As the core capitalist countries went into a sharp economic crisis from 2007, China appeared even to be weathering that storm, giving more force to the Sinophiles’ arguments. Even Marxists could be found arguing that Chinese economic power would drag the world from the brink.
In truth, the Chinese ‘miracle’ is the product of a very specific global political-economic situation, and so far has been utterly reliant on booming foreign investment, which produced the funds for the well known mega-infrastructure projects and so on. Things do not look so rosy from here on in. The Chinese economy is wobbling, as global consumer demand falters; more worryingly, the American Federal Reserve has decided to taper off its quantitative easing programme, which will likely have the effect that a hitherto huge outflow of dollars to economies such as China will be attenuated.
It is no wonder, then, that political divisions are starting to open up among the Chinese elite - never mind the population at large. The need for ‘rebalancing’ the economy away from the current model is clear to significant elements of this layer; the ‘Chongqing model’ of Bo Xilai is one option that its architect forced onto the table, but the attendant ideological baggage, never mind the possible emergence of a competitive power bloc around the charismatic Bo, was clearly considered too dangerous for the rather cautious, straight-laced bureaucrats in the CPC’s core leadership.
Taking Bo out of the picture may be enough to stop this political tussle from escalating at this stage. Dark clouds on the economic horizon, however, do not bode well - for the bureaucrats or their obsequious followers abroad.
We may cite, as one particularly pathetic example, the Morning Star’s Communist Party of Britain, an organisation which has proven itself, time and again, unable to function without some dubious socialist paradise to fawn before. Now, it is China’s turn - according to CPB general secretary Robert Griffiths, China will inevitably overtake the west; it is in the “primary stage” of constructing socialism; and other such nonsense.3
It is nonsense, above all else, founded on the grand image of China as an unstoppable economic powerhouse; but the notion that it will escape the current crisis is fanciful, to say the least. The bust-up between Bo Xilai and the core CPC leadership is one symptom, among many, of the dangerous contradictions at the heart of Chinese political and economic life - contradictions that will remain entirely obscure to grovelling Stalinist fanboys in the west.
Notes
1. www.eai.nus.edu.sg/BB465.pdf.
2. See, for example, the section of the 1938 Transitional programme on the USSR: www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/tp/tp-text2.htm.
3. http://communist-party.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1824:robert-griffiths-at-brussels-seminar-china-in-21st-century&catid=48:robert-griffiths-in-the-morning-star&Itemid=100.
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| ramonmercado Psycho Punk
Joined: 19 Aug 2003 Total posts: 17931 Location: Dublin Gender: Male |
| Posted: 22-09-2013 12:52 Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Bo Xilai found guilty of corruption by Chinese court
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-24170726
A Chinese court has found disgraced former top politician Bo Xilai guilty of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power.
The former party chief of Chongqing was sentenced to life imprisonment, but has the right to appeal.
He had denied all the charges against him in a fiery defence at his trial.
Bo was removed from office last year amid a scandal which saw his wife convicted for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
The verdict was handed down by the Intermediate People's Court in Jinan, Shandong province.
Passing sentence the judge told Bo that he had damaged China's national interests and the interests of its people, wrongfully using his position in power to receive bribes totalling 20 million Chinese Yuan ($3.2m; £2m).
He rejected Bo's claims that his confession to the crimes was acquired through illegal means such as torture and interrogation, and said it therefore stood.
The BBC's John Sudworth, outside the court, said that the judge completely dismissed Bo's defence arguments.
During Bo's trial last month the court took the unprecedented step of releasing details about proceedings on its Weibo microblog.
Bo was sentenced to life in prison on the bribery charges, 15 years for embezzlement and seven years for abuse of power - our correspondent says that he has been politically buried. In addition all his personal wealth has been confiscated.
He has 10 days to appeal against his sentence and conviction, but correspondents say that any such move is highly unlikely to be successful.
Although his trial was conducted under an unprecedented degree of openness for China, many analysts say that the guilty verdict was always a foregone conclusion - and many see the process against him as having a very strong political dimension.
Prosecutors had said that Bo accepted the bribes and embezzled public funds from Dalian, where he used to be mayor.
He was also accused of abusing his office by using his position to cover up for his wife Gu Kailai, convicted last year of murdering Neil Heywood in 2011.
In lengthy comments in court, he said he did not illegally obtain millions of dollars or cover up Mr Heywood's killing.
He also dismissed the testimony of two key witnesses, describing his wife's statement as "ridiculous" and his former police chief Wang Lijun's testimony as "full of lies and fraud".
Political crisis
Bo's fall from power was triggered when Wang sought refuge in the US consulate in Chengdu in February 2012.
The incident prompted an investigation into the death of Mr Heywood. Wang has since been jailed for 15 years for helping Gu cover up the murder.
The Bo Xilai scandal triggered a crisis in the Communist Party, which was about to hold its once-in-a-decade leadership handover, and revealed divisions at the top of the party over how Bo should be handled.
Two years ago Bo Xilai was seen as a candidate for promotion to the Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body.
His downfall was seen as the biggest political shake-up to hit China's ruling elite in decades.
But his trial also offered the public a rare glimpse into the life of China's rich and powerful, with lurid details emerging of lavish vacations and luxury villas.
Earlier this week, an overseas-based dissident Chinese news website published a letter allegedly written by Bo in prison on 12 September.
Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post said that unidentified insiders with close ties to Mr Bo had confirmed that the letter, addressed to Bo's family, was genuine.
"I am an innocent victim and I feel wronged," the letter read. "But I believe one day truth will prevail...I will wait quietly in jail for that day to come."
Analysis
Celia Hatton
BBC News, Beijing
The curtains appear to have finally dropped on Bo Xilai's once-glittering Communist Party career.
Bo can appeal against the trial verdict and his life sentence, but it is highly improbable he could engineer a future in which he re-enters China's political arena. He has been stripped of all political rights for life.
Other convicted politicians were released from prison after serving only part of their original sentences. Chen Xitong, a former Politburo member, was released on medical parole after serving half of his original 16-year prison term.
However, Bo Xilai is 64-years-old. Even before his political downfall, he was moving towards the final chapter in his career. It is difficult to envision a scenario in which he can quickly revive his populist power base, even if he gains an early release from prison.
It is difficult to make predictions in the world of Chinese politics. Two years ago Bo appeared to be poised to move into Zhongnanhai, the government compound in Beijing were China's top leaders reside.
Now, he will spend the foreseeable future inside a prison cell. |
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