Gu Kailai’s (谷開來) murder conviction ends one of China’s most sensational cases in years and throws the spotlight onto her husband as the country’s leaders seek to call time on a major political scandal.
Gu’s husband, former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chongqing secretary Bo Xilai (薄熙來), was one of China’s most popular political leaders until the scandal over British businessman Neil Heywood’s death burst into the open earlier this year, ending his hopes of promotion in a power handover that starts this autumn.
On Monday, his wife was convicted of poisoning Heywood in a hotel room in Chongqing, the southwestern megacity her husband ran, and given a suspended death sentence — a punishment that many in China considered too lenient.
China’s state-run media has presented Gu’s prosecution as evidence that nobody is above the law as the CCP attempts to resolve the crisis before its once-in-a-decade leadership transition at a party congress this year.
However, Chinese netizens on Monday angrily denounced the decision to spare Gu execution, contrasting her fate with that of a vegetable seller sentenced to death in 2009 for the murder of two officials.
Analysts say it remains unclear whether people will accept the verdict in a case that critics say was decided well before any evidence was presented in court, to minimize embarrassment for the party.
“The damage [from the Bo case] is already very, very severe, so it is really now a case of damage control,” said Cheng Li (李成), an expert in Chinese politics at the Brookings Institution in Washington. “But of course the whole thing is not over yet, as we are still waiting to see Bo Xilai dealt with, and that will be very, very crucial coming into the party congress.”
Bo was dismissed as Chongqing party secretary in March, before being removed from the powerful 25-member politburo and placed under investigation for violating party discipline — usually code for corruption.
He enjoyed strong public support during his tenure as party chief of the southwestern city for a tough crackdown on graft and organized crime that saw scores of officials detained and executed.
However, critics saw the campaign as an attempt by Bo to win promotion, amid accusations that judicial procedures were routinely flouted to secure convictions.
Bo’s right-hand man in Chongqing, Wang Lijun (王立軍), who first raised the alarm over Gu’s involvement in Heywood’s death and is now facing trial, is suspected of having used torture to extract confessions.
“The most severe crime is murder, the second is Bo creating his own political party and personality in Chongqing,” Li said of the scandal that brought down Bo, who has not been directly implicated in the murder. “The third area will be corruption, but there is also a fourth area, which could potentially be more serious than corruption, and that is the police brutality, the abuse of power and the torture.”
Four Chongqing police officers were on Monday convicted of trying to conceal Heywood’s murder to protect Gu, raising the possibility that Bo could be implicated in a cover-up and face criminal prosecution.
However, a lengthy account of Gu’s trial issued by Xinhua news agency made no mention of Bo, which analysts said could indicate the party has decided to treat him leniently.
Boston University international relations expert Joseph Fewsmith said Bo may escape criminal investigation altogether, and that if he did not, the charges would likely be limited to covering up Gu’s crimes.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese