China braces for next act in leadership drama

Reuters ^ | 04/11/12 | Chris Buckley and Benjamin Kang Lim

[TigerLikesRooster]

China braces for next act in leadership drama

By Chris Buckley and Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING | Wed Apr 11, 2012 6:02pm EDT

(Reuters) - "We can't keep a lid on this," China's disgraced leader Bo Xilai was reportedly told by his police chief when the murder scandal now engulfing Bo's family first began to unravel.

With a once-in-a-decade leadership handover months away, the Communist Party's elite must be thinking the same thing as they confront the first very public turmoil at the centre of power in more than 20 years.

Revelations about the former Chongqing party chief issued by the government on Tuesday, and above all that his wife Gu Kailai is suspected of murdering British businessman Neil Heywood, have upset China's carefully staged power succession, turning it into a drama that could still claim victims.

"We're all watching a big drama performed by the top level of the party," said Dai Qing, an investigative writer in Beijing and the adoptive daughter of a People's Liberation Army marshal. "Act one is over, and we're waiting to see what happens next."

President Hu Jintao and other leaders now face a quandary - how to prevent rifts among the leaders even as they maneuver for possible gain from Bo's dismissal from the Party's Central Committee and its Politburo.

That, and especially how it was handled, has exposed divisions within the ruling elite.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Bo may be rehabilitated down the road, but lots of turmoils should happen first and need to be settled in his favor before his rehabilitation. However, his view and doctrine has wide following and it will get wider. This thing won't end with Bo's fall. Current leadership in Beijing are facing the crisis way earlier than they had hoped. There is a speculation that the current leaders will attempt defuse the crisis by mega dose of QE. That is a tricky move because it could worsen the already bad inflation. Still, the populace needs to be appeased and major political players should be bought.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[Uri’el-2012]

British businessman Neil Heywood,

It is said he has ties to British MI6.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Yes. It is not on major media article yet, but widely circulated allegation now.

[jdsteel]

Hey, QE worked so well for the US, why not?????

(Do I really need a /sarc?)

[ModelBreaker]

“his view and doctrine”

What is his view and doctrine that is different from the ruling consensus?

[TigerLikesRooster]

Less growth, more redistribution of wealth

narrowing income gap,

anti-crime(prostitution, vagrancy, organized crime)

That is, not 100% pro-oligarchs.

[TigerLikesRooster]

As for crime, mainly petty crimes, and mob problems which affect ordinary people.

[darrellmaurina]

4 posted on Fri Apr 13 2012 19:37:45 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time) by TigerLikesRooster: “Yes. It is not on major media article yet, but widely circulated allegation now.”

Chinglish!

Your English is deteriorating.

LOL... that's what my Korean wife tells me when I say something that sounds like a non-native English speaker.

But seriously, thanks for posting. We need to pay attention in the West.

[darrellmaurina]

So those who aren't aware of Chinese politics realize how bad this is, read this article:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/12/china-s-jackie-kennedy-gu-kailai-and-the-bo-xilai-s-scandal.html

China’s Jackie Kennedy: Gu Kailai and the Bo Xilai’s Scandal
by Melinda Liu
The Daily Beast
Apr 12, 2012 10:27 AM EDT

Beautiful, brainy, and bossy—on the surface, Gu Kailai was a new breed of Politburo wife. A successful lawyer and daughter of a communist general, Gu met Bo Xilai when both were at Beijing University, one of the country’s most prestigious educational institutions. Bo and Gu were charismatic and ambitious “princelings”, or children of revolutionary veterans. They married in the mid-‘80s, becoming the life of the Communist Party—and Bo one of its rising stars. (“He reminded me of my father ... extremely idealistic,” Gu recalled to state media.) As recently as two months ago, Bo was party chief of Chongqing, a member of the 25-member Politburo, and an eager contender for further promotion during a once-in-a-generation power transition later this year.