BEIJING ? The ruling Communist Party sought to swiftly close ranks on Wednesday, hoping to move beyond a mortifying scandal that has exposed a leadership split and threatens to lay bare corruption in the party?s highest ranks.
A day after removing the once powerful official, Bo Xilai, from the party?s Politburo and naming his wife as the main suspect in the murder of a British businessman, the party?s conduit for official pronouncements, People?s Daily, published a front-page commentary ordering its members to ?consciously unify out thoughts? and rally around the party?s Central Committee and its general secretary, President Hu Jintao.
?The people can see our party?s resolute determination to maintain party discipline and administer the state by rule of law,? the commentary stated.
Party censors moved at the same time to scrub the Internet of unapproved references to the affair, blocking all mention of Bo family members and related figures as well as the many nicknames and puns that microbloggers have employed to chat about the scandal while evading censorship.
Mr. Bo, 62, had won widespread popularity and become a rival to the party?s mainstream leaders with an aggressive effort to create an egalitarian society with hints of neo-Maoism in Chongqing, the city-state where he was party secretary. But he also enriched himself and his family in the free-wheeling atmosphere of the economic boom, raising questions of corruption, and he backed police harsh crackdowns.
Mr. Bo?s hopes of joining the party?s top leadership collapsed on February 6 after Chongqinq?s police chief fled to an American consulate with allegations that Mr. Bo?s wife, Gu Kailai, had arranged the murder of a British businessman and Bo family acquaintance, Neil Heywood, accusations backed by a technical police file. The chief, Wang Lijun, also apparently revealed an treasure trove of information about the party?s inner struggles at the highest level to the American diplomats.
After his request for asylum was rejected, Mr. Wang left the consulate and was taken away by Chinese security officials and has not been seen since. He is being investigation for treason.
Neither Mr. Bo nor Mrs. Gu has been seen since March 15, after Mr. Bo was ousted from his Chongqing post. Both are believed to be detained in Beijing. Tuesday?s announcement that officials are investigating Mr. Bo for a serious disciplinary violation, and Ms. Gu for murder, sends a clear signal; targets of publicly revealed inquiries almost never escape punishment.
Word of the impending charges flooded China?s popular microblogs Tuesday afternoon and evening even before they were announced. Major announcements are sometimes deliberately leaked in advance, but the report also spread after an internal version of the release was read to party members at various news organs around the nation.
One division-level cadre with a state publishing outfit in Beijing described a buzz of excitement in the conference room on Tuesday afternoon. ?We were not very surprised, but we were excited,? said the executive, who declined to be named for fear of repercussions. ?It?s a big political event. A lot of us think, well, this is better than having to sing ?red songs? and read ?red books,? like Bo Xilai had people doing in Chongqing.?
The party has not made public the details of its accusations except to state that Mr. Heywood had had a falling out over business dealings with Ms. Gu and her son, Bo Guagua. The nature of the relationship was unclear, as was the role of Bo Guagua, who currently is a student at Harvard University.
Mr. Heywood, 41, was found dead last Nov. 15 in a Chongqing hotel room, killed by what his death certificate said was overconsumption of alcohol. Mr. Wang, the police chief, told American diplomats that he had had in fact been poisoned.
Ms. Gu appears to be the only relative of a Politburo member to have been implicated in a murder case, ?much less the murder of a foreigner,? Chen Guangzhong, 82, China?s foremost criminal justice scholar, said in an interview on Wednesday.
The maximum sentence for murder in China is execution. On its face, Mr. Chen said, the Heywood murder case appears ?pretty grave, because it involved a foreigner, and because it has had such a negative impact? politically.
The disclosure of the charges against the Bos was carefully scripted, and apparently timed, to dispense with Mr. Bo well ahead of a planned turnover of Communist leaders at the 18th Party Congress sometime this autumn.
Every Chinese media outlet carried the same Xinhua report nearly word for word on Tuesday, emphasizing that the case showed China?s commitment to justice no matter who was involved. On Internet sites, commentators voiced outrage over the what the scandal revealed about the dangers of unchecked power.
?Our party does have its baseline,? said Yang Hengjun, a popular public commentator. ? Senior officials often target common people, but they cannot do it through murder. After all, if the people will absolute power break through the baseline of murder, no one can stop them.?
The Bo scandal has destroyed efforts to portray the leadership changes as a symbol of Communist Party unity and the maturity of China?s one-party political system.
?This is very painful for the party,? Zheng Yongnian, a specialist on Chinese politics at the East Asia Institute of the National University of Singapore. ?It?s very embarrassing to have such a party leader and his wife now involved in a murder case. With this decision, the picture is clear; they can go ahead? with plans for the transition.
Source: http://feeds.nytimes.com/click.phdo?i=dc7109ff849cd7d45daab781935787b6
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