BEIJING, Sept 29: The Chinese government pressed ahead today with an effort to discredit fallen politician Bo Xilai, drawing an outcry from leftist supporters of the former leadership contender in a sign of the rifts that his prosecution could inflame.
Once a charismatic yet divisive star who stood out on China’s stolid political stage, Bo is almost sure to face trial and jail eventually after the ruling Communist Party announced his expulsion yesterday and issued a list of sordid allegations: bending the law to hush up a murder, taking huge bribes, and engaging in “improper sexual relations with multiple women.”
The party issued the damning accusations at the same time that it announced a Nov. 8 for a congress that will anoint a new generation of top leaders – a lineup that Bo held barely disguised ambitions to join.
Bo’s downfall has unsteadied preparations for that leadership succession, and exposed revelations of high-level abuse of power after his former police chief briefly took refuge in a United States consulate and exposed allegations that Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, murdered a British businessman.
State media tried to draw a clear line between Bo and the party elite he once belonged to, casting his fall as a victory for the party’s determination to fight corruption.
“No matter how high a position, no matter how influential, anyone who violates party discipline and state law will be sternly pursued and punished,” said a commentary on the case issued by the official Xinhua news agency.
“As a senior party official, Bo Xilai should have been a model of obedience to party discipline,” it said. “But instead he monopolised power and behaved recklessly, doing as he pleased and gravely violating discipline,” added the commentary, which was widely distributed by state media websites.
“His misdeeds deserve their punishment.”
(AGENCIES)
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