Party and State: Video: The Undoing of Bo Xi Lai

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Video: The Undoing of Bo Xi Lai

We've had accusations of insanity, Bo has changed what he previously confessed to, and challenged,the testimony and evidence against him. The Chinese on Weibo have been pretty much split down there middle. Official state media is preparing everyone from a guilty verdict, but professors (who should really know a showtrial when they see one) across the country are jumping on the pro-Bo bandwagon, declaring that evidence against him is flimsy at best.

The trial is probably the best hat we can hope for when it comes to Chinese politicians getting their come uppance, and much has been made of the details that have emerged in the last couple of days. Coverage (ok, someone is reposting tweets from Weibo and Twitter, but still...) continues on several China centric sites

As the trial in Jinan enters it's unexpected third day, Al Jazeera has an edition of Inside Story dedicated to the disgraced politician:

As the high-profile Chinese politician Bo Xilai goes to court over a scandal that has divided the country, his spectacular downfall exposes the messy infighting in the highest echelons of politics. Bo's case lifted the lid on the inner workings of the secretive ruling Chinese Communist Party, and exposed a rift between some of its members.

So, how will the Communist Party wrap up this scandal? And what does this mean for China's transparency and Bo's future? T

o discuss this, Inside Story, with presenter Jane Dutton, is joined by guests: Victor Gao, the director of the China National Association of International Studies, who previously worked in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Roderic Wye, an associate fellow at the Asia programme at Chatham House; and Steve Tsang, the director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham.