On the losing side, it seems, are Bo Xilai, the man who could well have headed
the Chinese leadership one day, and his supporters, including those in the
army.
Mr Bo will now become the fifth man to be deliberately removed from the
Politburo since the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Of the four others, two
were imprisoned and one, Zhao Ziyang, the former general secretary of the
party, lived out his days under house arrest.
A few hours before the announcement of his demise, and of his wife’s arrest
for the murder of Neil Heywood, Communist cadres across China were summoned
to emergency meetings to show their loyalty.
The decision to oust Mr Bo has all the hallmarks of a power play within the
party.
As Mr Hu and Mr Wen prepare to hand over to a new generation of leaders, they
are busy consolidating their networks of influence and preparing to ascend
to the sort of role that their predecessors, Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin,
both played: a steering hand on China from behind the scenes.
Mr Bo, as well as being one of the army’s closest allies within the Politburo,
is also one of Mr Jiang’s proteges. His dismissal will weaken Mr Jiang’s
influence, and boost Mr Hu.
How Neil Heywood has become caught up in the internecine battle between
China’s ruling factions remains unclear. Whatever the circumstances of his
death, a strong suspicion remains that he is a pawn in a wider game: the
battle for control of Beijing.
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