Bo Xilai expelled from the Party, wife suspected of murder
Beijing (AsiaNews)
- Bo Xilai, the former Chongqing Chief, has been expelled from the Communist
Party of China and placed under investigation, but his wife is officially
suspected of murdering a British citizen Neil Heywood, who died last November
in Chongqing .
A
brief statement from Xinhua says that Bo Xilai "is suspected of being
involved in serious breaches of discipline" and that is why the Party
Central Committee has decided to expel him.
The
fall of Bo Xilai (pictured with his wife and son) is one of the most
spectacular political dramas in China since Tiananmen. Until
a few weeks ago he was seen as a successful man, destined to join the Politburo
Standing Committee. His
populist campaign to revive Maoism distributing wealth to the poor was shared
by several fringes of the party, including several "princes" like Xi
Jinping, the heir apparent of President Hu Jintao. In
his attempt to "clean Chongqing" of mafia triads, he used illegal methods
and even arrested hundreds of party members. At
the conclusion of the National Assembly, on 14 March, Premier Wen Jiabao criticized
the " Chongqing authorities" for the way in which they dealt with the
Wang Lijun case. The
former assistant to Bo, who later became his enemy, took refuge for a day in
the U.S. consulate in Chengdu (Sichuan) to seek asylum. Taken
by police, he was transferred to Beijing and accused of treason. The
day after Bo was replaced by Zhang Dejiang, an ally of Hu Jintao and now is
publicly disgraced.
The plot
thickened even more with rumors about a possible coup that Bo was preparing
with the support of some army divisions.
The
tension in the party is so strong that today the People's Daily has published an
editorial in which calling on all Party members to "firmly support the
decisions of the Central Committee." The
article explains the expulsion of Bo and his investigation "shows respect
for the facts and the law," and shows "the determination of the Party
to maintain its purity and a clear position for the Protection of party
discipline and laws of
the State ". With
his attitude, it states, "Bo has seriously violated the party discipline,
causing damage to the cause and image of the Party and State."
From the "facts" and "investigations" of Wang Lijun a link between Bo, his family and the death of Neil Heywood has emerged. According to Xinhua, "Bogu Kailai, wife of Comrade Bo Xilai, and their son were on good terms with Heywood. But conflicts of interests became increasingly apparent. From the results of investigations, there is evidence that Heywood died as a result of murder and so we are suspicious of Bogu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun, a Bo family domestic worker".
Previously, Heywood's death was attributed to alcohol poisoning. Heywood, 41, lived in Beijing with his wife and two children. He was on good terms with the son of Bo, Bo Guagua, helped by Heywood to attend Harrow School in Britain and the John F. Kennedy University in Cambridge (Massachusetts).
Although the Xinhua and the People's Daily continue to emphasize the "holiness"
and "purity of the Party", there is no doubt that this plot complete
with complex counter-plots, has brought to light the power struggle within the
Party in the lead up to the Congress to be held next October which should see
the return of seven of the nine members of the Standing Committee of the Party.
Bo
Xilai's fall from grace recalls the expulsions and the charges against Chen
Xitong, former Party chief in Beijing in 1995, and the party secretary of
Shanghai, Chen Liangyu in 2006. But
the intrigues are far more complex and the shadow of the murder of Heywood
remind one even more the accident that killed Lin Biao, who was suspected of
having prepared a coup against Mao. His
plane crashed in 1971, while flying to Mongolia. In death
he was expelled from the party and accused of treason.
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