Bo Xilai was a rising star in the Communist Party, what with taking on the mafia & spurring growth in inland Chongquing. But hogging the media made him vulnerable in the high-stakes game being played out between different Party factions, ahead of a leadership transition
This autumn, China readies itself for the much-awaited leadership transition: a passing of the baton from the current combine of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao to President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang. In this transition, the inner wheels of Party politics are beginning to take centrestage. Like India, China?s Communist Party is not impervious to wheeling-dealing. Bo Xilai, one of the most flamboyant Party leaders in recent times and the Party secretary of the powerful Chongqing municipality, was asked to step down even though Bo had been regarded as a strong contender for the all powerful, central decision-making authority, the nine-member Standing Committee of the Politburo. Ahead of the 18th Party Congress, Bo appears to be a casualty in the game of high stakes being played out among the various factions within the Party.
In recent years, 63-year-old Bo has hogged the media?a marked departure from Communist leaders who stay away from the public eye. Bo hails from an illustrious lineage?a small clique in China called the taizidang or princeling. Think Rahul Gandhi, Omar Abdullah, Milind Deora and Akhilesh Yadav in India. Bo?s father Bo Yibo is regarded as one of the great eight immortals of the Chinese Communist Party. Bo?s privileged family background, his meteoric rise up the Party ladder, and his international and domestic popularity seemingly made his case unstoppable, until the rising star fell from grace. Bo figured in Time magazine?s list of 100 influential people in 2010.
Last month, it all began to fall apart. After taking office in 2007, Bo had brought in his prot?g? Wang Lijun in an attempt to materialise the ?Peaceful Chongqing? campaign. Wang Lijun, a mafia buster from Liaoning in northeast China was appointed vice-mayor and police chief of Chongqing to carry out a crackdown against the long-entrenched Chinese mafia. The mafia was dormant during the socialist era, but rapidly regrouped and blossomed in the post-reform period. As sinologist Bo Zhiyue of the National University of Singapore has noted, the mafia had begun to spread from gambling in underground casinos and high interest loans to real estate, transport and construction. There is a parallel here, given how black money rolls around in Bollywood and real estate in India.
Southwest China, Sichuan province in particular, of which the Chongqing municipality was a part until 1997, has had a long historical tradition of secret societies. Wang gained accolades in the campaign against the mafia, so much so that a 19-episode TV serial was based on Wang?s exploits. However, last month, Wang disappeared from the public eye mysteriously and resurfaced at the American Consulate in Chengdu (a few hours away from Chongqing), seeking political asylum.
For once, all this was being played out in the media. Bo missed a session of the Parliament on March 7?the only prominent Politburo member to do so following attendance at the annual National Party Congress session earlier. More drama followed. An unknown businessman ?tweeted? (on Sina weibo, China?s Twitter) that he was in possession of a voice recording of Wang Lijun that was said to be damaging?the cause behind Bo?s absence. Bo was soon asked to step down. Vice-President Xi Jinping called for unity, saying in the Party journal that ?a lack of principles and corrupt behaviour is not conducive to the purity of the party?.
Nobody knows the truth but there is plenty to conjecture. Bo gained the confidence of the left and the right and more importantly the people, which may have rankled the ranks. On the left, he sponsored a controversial ?red revival?, singing patriotic ?red? songs popular in the Maoist era to inculcate nationalism and pride in socialist ethics. His anti-mafia campaign made Bo a popular hero, with 14 mafia groups and 67 big bosses put behind bars and 13 people executed after speedy trials, and many heads rolling amongst the Party cadre?ruffling feathers in the bargain. Bo also became a crowd favourite for the Chongqing economic model. Correctly so, because Bo spearheaded many policies but incorrectly so because the ?Chongqing model? was the culmination of long years of centrally spearheaded policies.
Chongqing is an inland port city of 32 million that celebrated 15 years of being a ?municipality? since its separation from the Sichuan province in 1997. According to sinologist Lijian Hong, in 1997, 44% of the large state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and 55% of the state-controlled shareholding enterprises suffered a loss of 2.7 billion yuan. Chongqing was also battling unemployment resulting from the closure of SOEs. The implementation of the Three Gorges project in Chongqing was a turning point. The Three Gorges involved relocation of 1.2 million people and management of this colossal project made Chongqing municipality an administrative and economic imperative. By 2000, Chongqing ranked 11 among 35 big city economies and ranked number 1 among all cities in western China for all major economic indicators except total investment in fixed assets. Successive Party leaders upgraded infrastructure and urbanised the rural areas. But all this would not have been possible without Beijing?s cheque book.
The right could not fault his pro-reform agenda. Since 2007, Bo worked upon infrastructure to attract Foxconn, Hewlett Packard and Apple to Chongqing?read China?s interior. As Straits Times of Singapore notes, Chongqing attracted entire production chains to avoid the cost of importing components. Bo encouraged reform of the notorious household registration system, which categorises population as urban or rural. Urban residential permits were made accessible and affordable public housing created. Bo?s growing fan club that cuts across from left to right was opening up a phase of competitive politics like never before. Netizens polled him as the most popular Chinese leader. Amateur songwriters sang paeans.
The growing netizens are changing the political ballgame. In recent times, they have openly mocked Wen Jiabao over the high-speed train accident in 2011, and forced action in several other cases such as the infamous ?Guo Meimei? case in 2011?an average Red Cross worker named Guo Meimei created scandal when she was spotted wearing expensive designer attire; netizens tracked down a high level Party official as her benefactor and he was forced to resign.
Uncharacteristically, Bo found his family had been dragged into controversy. He has had to clear a few cobwebs around his own son. While nothing has been made of Vice-President Xi Jinping?s daughter who goes to Harvard, Bo had to publicly reveal how his son?s education was financed at Harrow, then Oxford and now at Harvard. It has also been alleged that his son drives a Ferrari?driving a Ferrari to date American Ambassador Jon Huntsman?s daughter became public fodder.
Political scandals are usually engineered to sideline, sidetrack or demolish an uncomfortable potential adversary. Many a Communist leader has had his reign cut short due to twists and turns among the jostling elite at the top. Bo was too much in the limelight.
The author is a Singapore-based sinologist, currently a visiting fellow at the Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi. Views are personal