Party and State: Deng Xiaoping

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Bo Xi Lai Launches Appeal. Might Get Own Talk Show.

You can't keep a corrupt Chinese Communist Party official down, and Bo just keeps on coming with his media appearances. Not content with dragging out his trial for an epic five days, taking every opportunity to mouth off in front of the cameras (well, Weibo transcribers), the disgraced politician has launched his appeal against his life sentence today.

The guilty verdict that he received on Sunday effectively ended his career, but the old windbag just won't take the hint and go quietly. Even when he was languishing in custody at the end of the trial, he wrote a defiant letter from his cell, saying that he would once again rise phoenix-like from the ashes. Painting himself the martyr and comparing himself to his father, Bo Yibo, one of the founding fathers of the People's Republic, he wrote that

"I was dragged into this and really wronged, but the truth will come out one day. Meanwhile I will be waiting quietly in prison. Dad was thrown into prison multiple times in his lifetime and I will look up to him as my role model."

Uh. Ok.

Bo's father was dyed in the blood communist who supported Deng Xiao Ping's economic reforms, but opposed any proposal to stray from the "democratic dictatorship" style of CCP rule - what would you expect from a man who was once Mao's swimming partner? While making his mark in economic circles, Bo's son misfired with the Red Propaganda drive which is now en vogue now that it's been rebranded by Xi "The Boss" Jin Ping. Possibly, Bo Junior is waiting until Xi passes away to make his move back into the limelight. From prison. In his old age. Well, God loves a trier.

Given Bo Xilai's obsession with the media, and making a number of apparently unrehearsed outbursts in the court that tried him, one can only wonder what he's up to. The smart thing to do would to be bow your head and take it like a man, but Bo seems intent on resisting the will of the Party to the very end. He's already been sentenced to a cushy prison in the north of Beijing, so why appeal the sentence that he probably knows won't be changed. Cementing his reputation as a media personality famous only for opposing the incumbent leadership isn't going to do him any favors in the future (such as it is), so what's with the new interest in painting himself as the enfant terrible of Chinese politics? Maybe he just wants a hug.

Xi Gives Bo Sentence the Seal of Approval. Now What?

China's Bo Xilai appeals conviction

A simple corruption case or political struggle in China?

Friday, September 6, 2013

The Myth of Xi Jin Ping's Corruption Crackdown

The aggressive corruption clean out is giving the Party a much needed spring clean, even some of the major movers and shakers have had their intimate circles delicately probed according to Chinese law.

Top officials have been falling left, right and center, and the Disciplinary Committee continues to investigate the biggest tigers and the smallest flies (providing they don't accidentally, brutally beat themselves to death whilst under interrogation). Some of the more cynical among the China watchers might just wonder if the intentions of the anti-graft crackdown are completely honorable.

Writing in CNN, Jamie FlorCruz doesn't believe that initiative aimed at cleaning up the Party are all they are cracked up to be.

"Since the end of the Cultural Revolution, senior leaders, as a means of ensuring unity and continuity of Communist Party rule, have honored the agreement not to prosecute each other," [Gordon G.] Chang said. "If they can no longer be sure they are safe in retirement, politics will inevitably return to the brutishness of the Maoist era. Deng Xiaoping lowered the cost of losing political struggles. Xi Jinping is raising the stakes, perhaps to extremely high levels."

The point being that a fair number of flies might have been caught out breaking the 11th commandment, but very few of the higher ups have been targeted. Even before the article was published, rumors that Zhou Yongkang was being investigated were quashed, and now he's just helping the police with their inquiries.

With widening gulfs between the super-rich, the rich and the impossibly poor in the country, a campaign that unifies the people behind a common has the double prizer of taking people's mind off domestic issues, and bolstering support for the CCP at a grassroots level. The leaking of Document 9 shows just how much of a hardliner Xi can be, attacking western values and ideas, placating the old guard that still wields considerable power in the corridors of The Great Hall of the People.

Making sure that they play to "remember the bad old days?" dictum that has served them so well over the years, China has made sure to show that that aren't kowtowing to foreigners either. Parading those on TV who dare to break Chinese laws sends a message to lowest common denominator that even though more economic reforms are planned. Clearly demonstrating that despite the influx of foreigners and foreign companies into China, there will be no repeat of the century of humiliation, the bitter memories of which still evoke strong reactionary pieces in state media.

For those with long memories, eradicating corruption has always been a stalwart in the arsenal of any Chinese administration. Unlike his predecessor, Hu Jin Tao, who dallied and eventually became eclipsed by Granpa Wen's affection for comforting disaster victims, Xi Jin Ping seems to have a firmer grip on the PR that's needed to sell the Party to a new generation of wealthier Chinese.

The good news is that going after corrupt officials in China is pretty much shooting fish. So long as a high profile case is dragged out every so often to let people know that they're still serious about it, this particular PR offensive has little chance of running out of steam. Since there's little chance of him leveling senior officials that back his leadership in the Disciplinary Committee's sights, the only ones that are left are those who have outlived their usefulness. With another ten years of Xi's rule ahead of us, it'll be a long time before we see any "Mission Accomplished" banners on Chinese aircraft carriers.