Ambitious Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership contender Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has been toppled from his post as head of Chongqing, in a move risking a backlash from backers of his controversial vision of socialist growth.
His abrupt downfall, announced yesterday by Xinhua news agency, exposes ideological divisions as a new generation prepares to take power in China later this year, and might stir tensions between supporters of his more traditional, state-dominated version of socialism and liberal critics, who saw him as a dangerous opportunist.
Bo was removed as party boss of Chongqing, which he had turned into a bastion of Communist revolutionary-inspired “red” culture and egalitarian growth, a day after being rebuked by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) in a news conference broadcast live across the country.
The telegenic Bo had been a contender for top leadership, but his prospects suffered a blow after former Chongqing vice mayor Wang Lijun (王立軍), previously his longtime police chief, went to ground last month in the US consulate in Chengdu until he was coaxed out and placed under investigation.
Xinhua said Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang (張德江) will replace Bo, but gave no further details. It also said Wang had been removed from his vice mayor post.
When announcing Bo’s dismissing, the head of the party’s powerful organizational department, Li Yuanchao (李源潮), said the move was made “in light of the serious political repercussions of the Wang Lijun incident,” according to Chinese news reports that cited a Chongqing TV report.
Wang had earlier been a key figure in a drive against organized crime that garnered Bo nationwide attention.
While Bo might be kept on in some role until the CCP leadership succession this autumn, his hopes for promotion to a top job were finished, said Chen Ziming (陳子明), an independent scholar in Beijing who follows party politics.
“Now it looks like Wen Jiabao’s comments yesterday represented the leadership’s collective view that Bo needed to go,” said Chen, referring to the premier’s pointed rebuke of Bo.
“This will affect the leadership politics for the 18th Congress, because this opens up new uncertainties about who is in contention,” Chen said.
The 18th Party Congress late this year will see China’s biggest leadership transition in nearly a decade, with Chinese President and CPP chief Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) and other elders due to retire and hand power to a younger generation headed by Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平).
“The fact that the Xinhua announcement did not stress that Bo will be placed in another post means that he’s probably going to be put under investigation, and there won’t be any conclusion on his future until the end of that,” said one source, a journalist with contacts among central and Chongqing officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to protect himself and his contacts.
Bo’s removal quickly became one of the most talked about topics on China’s microblogging site Weibo, with the normal censorship of discussion on top leaders strangely absent.
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