China: Gu Kailai Said to Have Named Zhou Yongkang as Coup Mastermind(purge escalates)

NDTV ^ | 04/13/12

[TigerLikesRooster]

Gu Kailai Said to Have Named Zhou Yongkang as Coup Mastermind

Gu Kailai, the wife of an ousted Chinese politician, may have given evidence against her husband's ally in order to save herself from the death penalty.

Gu was arrested on April 10—the same day her husband Bo Xilai was sacked as Chongqing's Communist Party Secretary. Gu is likely to be convicted for the murder of British citizen and family friend Neil Heywood.

According to online news service Boxun, an anonymous source on Thursday said that Gu Kailai exposed a plot between Zhou Yongkang and Bo Xilai to stage a coup against upcoming leader Xi Jinping. Gu apparently named Zhou as the mastermind behind the coup, calling him the "bad egg" in the Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee.

We have not yet been able to independently verify the report from Boxun. But Political analyst He Anquan believes it's likely that Gu Kailai did turn in evidence against Zhou Yongkang—because that's commonplace among communist officials trying to save themselves.

[TigerLikesRooster]

Zhou Yongkang is the head of Chinese security agency(secret police.) This is turning into a full-scale power struggle of life and death.

[TigerLikesRooster]

From the Chinese news article at Boxun.us,

为求免死 薄谷开来揭发周永康，称其为“坏蛋”

(博讯北京时间2012年4月12日 首发 - 支持此文作者/记者)

博讯据知情人士透露，为了避免死刑，薄熙来的妻子薄谷开来试图供出周永康和他的政变计划。薄谷开来指控周永康是推翻习近平和其他常委的计划的主谋，她称周是“常委中的坏蛋”。

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[tet68]

Sounds like it, many will be purged.
Under this system it will cascade as each tries
to save themselves by giving their interogators
what they want.

We are seeing another chinese epoch.

[jdsteel]

When you have the worlds 2nd largest economy “controlled” by Communists bad stuff will happen.

[ClearCase_guy]

4?
3?
2?

There can be only 1.

[JerseyanExile]

Technically they’re more fascists then communists nowadays.

[Blado]

If you stupid Americans were as smart as me you'd listen more to Chairman ObowMao and emulate the China model.

[jimtorr]

Is this just another internal power struggle confined to the politburo, or something larger?

[PapaBear3625]

So it looks like the coup rumors from a few weeks back were true.

[TigerLikesRooster]

I think it can escalate into wider conflict. Every major player in politburo has his regional base and substantial followers.

[fella]

Man, I can't make head nor tails out of this mess. I need a scorecard or a playbill. Also since this involves our landlords shouldn't our media be keeping us up to date.

[jdsteel]

You are absolutely correct.

[Billthedrill]

Whoa, this one snuck up on me. Thanks for posting. Tell us more when you can.

[tet68]

I think it can escalate into wider conflict.

Agreed, when the organs of internal security are
unleashed against a threat to the state, they
are not going to stop at one or two. It will
be root and branch and any thing connected even
if it’s a flimsy denounciation.

If it can be held inside the polit I would be surprised.

[MimirsWell]

If this much information is already out, then looks like the Bo Xilai faction has already lost. I would have expected a period of silence when nothing comes out for a while before a winner emerges. There was a brief period when this happened (between Wang Lijun’s arrest and last week) but looks like the Hu and Xi JinPing faction has come out on top. What’s your take Tiger?

[TigerLikesRooster]

I think Bo is gone. The laundry list of charges against him is a classic menu for purge, which includes the allegation that Bo and Zhou engaged in sex with 100 women and making video about it(according to Boxun.) However, they do have regional base(especially Bo) and have had substantial number of followers. I wonder if Hu and Xi can sweep out all of them. China is a collection of major regions which are more or less autonomous. You can't clean up an entire region without bloody confrontation. So they could be biding time to strike back.

If economic situation deteriorates and social tensions rise, winds will be blowing in favor of those with the same view as Bo. Xi should get ahead of the curve and become another Bo. This is probably what Hu and Wen try hard to avoid. Time is not on their side, though. There would be backlash against current party elites who monopolized most of China's wealth. They will be dealt with in one way or another. I am not sure Hu and Xi would be up to that task. If they don't, they will be perceived as part of the problem, who getting in the way of so-called "reform."

China is not N.Korea. Central government cannot have strong control over all disparate regions. Only somebody like Mao can do it. There is only so much they can do. If they push too far, they risk civil war.

[tet68]

An unusual situation, I’m glad we have a great
president to deal with it./s

Could it really result in civil strife?
With Bo under arrest, I assume he is, who
would come forward to lead his area against
the government?

I expect before long he will be brought
out to admit his mistakes and then call
on his supporters to support the government.

He was more a maoist type of “reformer” wasn’t he?
He took advantage of the economic policy but
wanted to go back to more strict policy??

[TheOldLady]

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[Tainan]

This has turned into a great story.