China moves to disgrace Bo Xilai
Communists expel him from party, accuse him of corruption
BEIJING – China’s communist leadership expelled Bo Xilai from the ruling party Friday and sought to bury him with charges ranging from corruption to sexual affairs, aiming to sweep away their most damaging scandal in decades while finally scheduling their longawaited leadership transition for November.
A statement from the party’s Politburo amounted to a surprisingly strong and wide-ranging indictment against Bo, effectively ending the public life of the flamboyant 63-yearold populist who was one of China’s best known politicians and whose ambition was considered a menace to the country’s top leaders.
The former Politburo member and regional party chief is to be charged with crimes dating back more than a decade, including abuse of power, bribe taking and improper relations with several women — banned by the party because they are considered an inducement to corruption.
He also is accused of involvement in the coverup of his wife’s murder of a British businessman, which was instrumental in triggering his downfall.
“They want to drive a stake through the heart of his political career, and make it absolutely impossible, not only for him to reappear but for anyone else who has that idea of trying to create that sort of personalized, political, charismatic leadership in some part of China which may challenge the leadership,” said Rana Mitter, professor of Chinese history and politics at Oxford University.
The Politburo also announced the party congress would take place Nov. 8.
Dates for the congress, held once every five years, were overdue and highly anticipated because it will see President Hu Jintao step down after 10 years as party boss — and China’s ultimate leader — to be replaced by Vice-President Xi Jinping.
The congress had been expected to take place in midOctober, although the preparations were overshadowed by the Bo scandal.
“Bo Xilai’s behaviour resulted in serious repercussions and enormous damage to the reputation of the party and the nation, producing extremely vile effects domestically and overseas, and causing heavy damage to the cause of the party and the people,” the Politburo said in a statement issued following its meeting in Beijing.
Speculation swirled for months over whether the party would harshly punish one of its own for criminal wrongdoing, or merely allow its own disciplinary arm to deal him a slap on the wrist.
The scandal was set off when a trusted Bo aide disclosed that his boss’s wife had murdered a British businessman. Bo was sacked as party chief of the city of Chongqing; his wife, Gu Kailai, was given a suspended death sentence after confessing to the murder; and the aide, Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun, received a 15-year prison term for initially covering up the murder and other misdeeds.
The trials of Wang, which wrapped up this week, and Gu, which finished earlier, cleared the way for the party to decide whether to charge Bo with criminal wrongdoing.
But his ouster from the leadership early this year opened a window into the divisive jostling for power as president and party leader Hu prepares to retire to make way for younger leaders.