America’s delayed response to questions over attempted defection in Bo scandal

Administration officials have defended the decision not to grant Mr Wang
asylum on the grounds that a former police chief in the midst of a political
feud with his boss, Bo Xilai, did not fit the legal requirements.

Exact details of what Mr Wang told US officials have not been made clear,
however the New York Times reported that he was carrying “technical
descriptions of police investigations” in Chongqing, the megacity in
Southern China that was then ruled by Mr Bo.

During a frantic 36 hours of diplomacy, Mr Wang was allowed to make phone
calls to Beijing at arrange his safe-passage while he regaled diplomats with
a “rambling but ultimately revealing discourse on the murky
intersection of power, politics and corruption in China,” the paper
reported.

Kenneth Lieberthal, a former China adviser in the Clinton administration, said
the administration had been forced to finesse the issue, allowing Mr Wang to
escape the clutches of Mr Bo’s “thugs” who had gathered outside
the consulate without poisoning US-China relations.

“I think there was a decision made at the White House and State, that
having decided to deny asylum, they also clearly decided not to embarrass
Beijing by highlighting what had occurred or what we had learned,” he
explained to The Telegraph.

“I think the administration sees no upside in getting the US directly
involved in this case. This is a very big deal in China, the implications of
it within the Chinese system are still not clear. How far will this
investigation go? Who else will it manage to tarnish? What will the
punishments be?

“All this is unresolved and involves interests and internal dynamics we
do not understand even as we want – as does Britain – to get off to a good
start with the New Chinese leadership when they come in.

“Getting involved in this case would hardly be the best way to accomplish
that.”

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