Brewing China scandal offers Harper a Sino-reality check

[Ray]

Brewing China scandal offers Harper a Sino-reality check

AND GUANGZHOU, CHINA— Globe and Mail Update
Published Friday, Feb. 10, 2012 1:03PM EST
Last updated Friday, Feb. 10, 2012 8:52PM EST

It's the biggest political scandal to hit China in years, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper is landing in the middle of it.

Bo Xilai, the charismatic and controversial Communist Party boss of Chongqing – the last stop on Mr. Harper's five-day, three-city visit to China – was until this week seen as a rising political star, all but certain to be promoted to the all-powerful Standing Committee of the Politburo during a once-in-a-decade transfer of power that begins this fall.

Then came the disappearance of his right-hand man, the former police chief and deputy mayor of Chongqing, Wang Liqun, in a cloak-and-dagger mystery worthy of a Cold War thriller.

The swirling intrigue may dash Mr. Bo's hopes of reaching the pinnacle of power, while providing a grim reminder of the opaque and sometimes-dangerous ways power works in this authoritarian state.

His whereabouts unknown, Mr. Wang is under police investigation and on what state media have called "vacation-style treatment."

The forced hiatus comes after he made a mysterious, unsanctioned visit on Monday to the United States consulate in Chengdu, several hours' drive west of Chongqing.

The reasons why Mr. Wang went into the consulate – and what he said to the diplomats stationed there – have not been revealed. The consulate was surrounded by dozens of police vehicles and roadblocks were set up until Mr. Wang emerged and gave himself up. "He did visit the consulate and he later left the consulate of his own volition," a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department confirmed.

Mr. Harper and Mr. Bo, as of Friday night, were still expected to meet on Saturday, but getting to know the man behind the so-called Chongqing model – known for its Mao-inspired politics and successes in fighting organized crime – may be less relevant than before the caper at the U.S. consulate.

The Chinese Internet is alive with rumours about what materials Mr. Wang might have given the Americans relating to Mr. Bo. Unlike most sensitive topics, online discussion of the case has not been thoroughly censored. Mr. Wang's disappearance has also been given prominent coverage in the state-controlled media.

Wu Jiaxiang, a former researcher for the Central Committee of the Communist Party who is now an independent academic, said the lack of censorship means that some in Beijing are happy to leave the controversial Mr. Bo twisting in the wind. "Wang is just a pawn," he said.

After Mr. Wang's arrest, a letter attributed to him was posted online; it warned that if Mr. Bo rises to power in Beijing, "it will lead to calamity for China and disaster for our nation."

"When everyone sees this letter, I'll either be dead or have lost my freedom," reads the letter, dated three days before Mr. Wang entered the U.S. consulate.

Mr. Wang's political career is almost certainly now over, and questions are swirling around Mr. Bo as well. The two made headlines first for smashing Chongqing's crime syndicates and introducing "red culture" campaigns that were imbued with nostalgia for the supposedly purer days of Mao Zedong.

It became known as the Chongqing model, and Mr. Bo was the darling of the country's political left. Whispers abounded that parts of the Chongqing model would be implemented at the national level if Mr. Bo were promoted to the Standing Committee.

Now, some believe Mr. Bo's path to power is far less clear.

The Prime Minister met Friday with Wang Yang, the Communist Party boss in coastal Guangdong province and another rising political star who is considered a contender to join the Standing Committee of the Politburo this fall.

Canadian officials said Mr. Harper and Mr. Wang discussed political reforms in the province, including the recent unrest in the village of Wukan, a rare instance of people power in China that saw villagers take to the streets to oust leaders they saw as corrupt and then hold their own elections. Mr. Wang has won plaudits for siding with the villagers in the dispute.

The episode in Chongqing, however, may provide a reality check for the Prime Minister about the system and people he's making deals with as he seeks to strengthen Canada's economic ties with China.

Brewing China scandal offers Harper a Sino-reality check - The Globe and Mail

This shows how though China is a closed society politically, there are intrigues afoot.

Maybe our Chinese posters could throw more light in what is going on and what is being said on the internet in China.

One wonder is Mr Wang is dead or alive!

What did he tell the US consulate people?

What is meant that Mr Wang was a pawn?

What was the big game he was a pawn about?

Maybe our Chinese posters would help understand what is and was going on in Chinese politics.

Stephen Harper is the Canadian PM.

 

[Ray]

Canada wants "mutual respect" from China on trade

CHONGQING, China (Reuters) - Some Canadian resource firms are being treated unfairly in China and Beijing must deal with the problem if it wants a proper trading relationship with energy-rich Canada, a top official told Reuters on Saturday.

China is keen to one day import Canadian crude to help fuel its rapidly-expanding economy.

Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver, speaking during a trade mission designed in large part to sell oil to China, said some Canadian companies were having trouble obtaining permits to develop sites.

"If we want to build a long-term strategic relationship with China, which we do, and which the Chinese have said they want to build with us, it has to be based on mutual respect, reciprocity and equality," Oliver told Reuters in an interview.

"So we would like to see Canadian companies treated as well as Chinese companies are treated in Canada. And that's the issue and I think it's a serious issue ... it's one of the issues that needs to be addressed as we move to the next step in our relationship."

More at:

Canada wants mutual respect from China on trade | Business | Reuters

 

[Daredevil]

Mr. Wang must have been a CIA agent working for US and hence his swift disappearance and probable death after his visit to US consulate..

 

[Ray]

Mystery of China's Missing Crime Fighter Deepens

BEIJING — In the latest twist of an increasingly bizarre story, China announced Thursday that a top Communist Party official spent a full day in the United States consulate in the western city of Chengdu.

The official Xinhua news agency issued a bulletin Thursday night saying that Wang Lijun, once China's most famous crime fighter, entered the consulate on Monday "and left after staying one day."

China's social media networks had exploded with unconfirmed reports on Wednesday that Mr. Wang had tried to defect. Later that day, the United States State Department spokeswoman played down those reports, saying he entered the consulate but left "of his own volition."

The official Chinese report does not contradict this but implies that something very unusual happened in the consulate. Senior Chinese officials rarely make visits of any length to a consulate or embassy.

Mr. Wang was a right-hand man to Bo Xilai, the party secretary in Chongqing and one of China's most charismatic and polarizing leaders. A former commerce minister, Mr. Bo is one of the leading candidates to join the nine-man Standing Committee of the party's Politburo, which would make him one of the handful of men who run China. Mr. Bo has championed high-profile drives against corruption coupled with a glorification of the Maoist era.

Mr. Wang won renown for fighting gangs in Chongqing, a metropolis of 29 million people, and his success bolstered Mr. Bo's political fortunes.

Officially, Mr. Wang is on medical leave but credible reports put him in Beijing, where he is said to be under interrogation. The uproar comes as China's presumptive next leader, Xi Jinping, is due to make a visit to Washington.

The official Xinhua news agency issued a bulletin Thursday night saying that Wang Lijun, once China's most famous crime fighter, entered the consulate on Monday "and left after staying one day."

China's social media networks had exploded with unconfirmed reports on Wednesday that Mr. Wang had tried to defect. Later that day, the United States State Department spokeswoman played down those reports, saying he entered the consulate but left "of his own volition."

The official Chinese report does not contradict this but implies that something very unusual happened in the consulate. Senior Chinese officials rarely make visits of any length to a consulate or embassy.

Mr. Wang was a right-hand man to Bo Xilai, the party secretary in Chongqing and one of China's most charismatic and polarizing leaders. A former commerce minister, Mr. Bo is one of the leading candidates to join the nine-man Standing Committee of the party's Politburo, which would make him one of the handful of men who run China. Mr. Bo has championed high-profile drives against corruption coupled with a glorification of the Maoist era.

Mr. Wang won renown for fighting gangs in Chongqing, a metropolis of 29 million people, and his success bolstered Mr. Bo's political fortunes.

Officially, Mr. Wang is on medical leave but credible reports put him in Beijing, where he is said to be under interrogation. The uproar comes as China's presumptive next leader, Xi Jinping, is due to make a visit to Washington.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/10/w...-missing-crime-fighter-deepens.html?ref=china

Was he trying to defect?

Did the US get cold feet and hand him over to the Chinese?

Or is a part of a Chinese high level plot and internal political intrigue?

 

[Iamanidiot]

Brigadier he might also be a casualty of the factional fights

 

[Ray]

Searching for Political Clues in China's Social Media Censorship

Amid a torrent of online rumor, China's state-run Xinhua news agency on Thursday published a terse report confirming that one of China's most famous mob-busting security officials had spent a day at an American consulate.

It was among the few bits of official information to trickle out during days of intense speculation on the country's Twitter-like microblogs about the fate of Wang Lijun, the deputy mayor overseeing public security in the sprawling city of Chongqing. An earlier statement by city officials said he had sought "vacation-style medical treatment" before the State Department said on Wednesday that he had visited the consulate, without describing the reason he had done so.

The uncertain nature of Mr. Wang's visit attracted attention in China because of his close connection to Bo Xilai, the city's Communist Party secretary who is widely believed to be under consideration to join the Standing Committee of the Politburo later this year.

Yet the local news media ignored the reports, according to the China Media Project at the University of Hong Kong, with one newspaper celebrating "Peaceful Chongqing" on its cover as the apparent political intrigue gathered steam online.

China changes its top officials at party meetings held once a decade, and this year will see the first such session since the widespread adoption of the microblogs, known as weibo, where rumors spread among tens of millions of users with a speed that the Chinese authorities have struggled to control.

In the noise of rumor about Mr. Wang, some English-language bloggers and China observers have sought to find signs of broader political meaning in an unusual way — by watching how the Chinese authorities have, or have not, censored social media posts on the subject.

"Vacation-style medical treatment" — along with the names of the two officials — were trending topics on Sina Weibo, the largest microblog service, said Charles Custer, who edits the blog ChinaGeeks.

Searching for Political Clues in China's Social Media Censorship - NYTimes.com

What is "Vacation-style medical treatment"?

Appears to be some high level political intrigue and jockeying for power!

 

[Ray]

Controversy surrounding Wang Lijun reveals Beijing power struggle: scholars

SHANGHAI -- Chongqing Deputy Mayor Wang Lijun's (王立軍) suspected effort to seek asylum in the United States consulate in Chengdu, Sichuan, and his apparent arrest by Beijing security is an embarrassment to Beijing and reveals a power struggle ahead of a decisive Communist Party of China (CPC) congress later this year, Chinese scholars said yesterday.

The Wang Lijun saga became big news after Voice of America (VOA) reported that the former deputy mayor and police chief of Chongqing municipality had met with American diplomats inside the consulate and later left "of his own volition."

Wang is now in Beijing, officially on a "healing vacation" after suffering "serious stress and physical discomfort," according to a statement issued by the Chongqing City government.

VOA quoted Victoria Nuland, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, as saying that Wang had asked to meet American officials at the Chengdu consulate and that the meeting took place Monday.

"He did visit the consulate and he later left the consulate of his own volition," she said.

However, Nuland did not disclose whether Wang had requested asylum. The State Department does not talk about issues related to those seeking refugee status or asylum, she said.

Nuland also declined to discuss the content of Wang's meeting with officials of the American consulate in Chengdu.

VOA said Wang's encounter with American officials was causing great embarrassment to Bo Xilai (薄熙來), the No. 1 figure in Chongqing whose political fortunes were seen to be rising in advance of the CPC's power-shifting congress in fall.

Wang, 52, had helped Bo enforce a crackdown on corruption and organized crime in the city. The question of why Wang has suddenly fallen ill as result of "long-term stress and overwork," as the city government reported, has aroused interest. The issue of why he reportedly tried to seek assistance from U.S. officials is also a key one.

Controversy surrounding Wang Lijun reveals Beijing power struggle: scholars - The China Post

Interesting points are raised by this article from China Post throwing more light on this mystery.

Why did Wang seek asylum in the US embassy. Either he was a CIA agent or he had much to leak about the power struggle that was afoot in China before the selection for the Politburo!

This has naturally given rise to the egenral belief that all is not well with the CCP, no matter now much China wants to show that it is an united monolith that responds to national aspirations alone and beyond personal ambitions!

Indeed Wang is now on a 'healing vacation'. In other words, being given the hiding of his life!

This part of the report indicates the usual manner of China to hide the truth and instead obfuscate or cover with falsehood and which are Chinese posters also emulate.

Wang, 52, had helped Bo enforce a crackdown on corruption and organized crime in the city. The question of why Wang has suddenly fallen ill as result of "long-term stress and overwork," as the city government reported, has aroused interest.

Imagine a hale and hearty man, who has done so much good, all of a sudden has fallen ill as result of "long-term stress and overwork.

What tommy rot!

Who are they trying to fool?