Reports of Zhou Yongkang being officially investigated is widespread. Most reports focused on the point that this is the highest-grade official being officially investigated since Gang of Four era. Some reports also pointed out that the word "comrade" was visibly missing when Zhou was mentioned. Some reports also stated that this was the result of consensus amongst the current leaders and retired leaders.
All these put together, it seems to suggest that Zhou's purge has received the blessings of former leaders like Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.
However, it was commonly reported that under the theory of factionalism, Zhou was the protégé of Jiang. The fact that Zhou was able to reach the standing committee position was also surely as a result of abundance blessings from Jiang, then Hu. Would they have completely no knowledge of Zhou's doing?
Should Zhou truly be vindicated, would he be willing to accept all blames and draw a clear line from his former benefactors? As Xi constantly sends the message that he will clamp down on both small flies and big tigers, would the senior retired leaders be fearful that after Zhou, who will be next?
China politics is getting more exciting as Xi has taken a path that no one expected at all before his ascension to the throne. Hence, everything could become a surprise. Xi might go beyond Zhou to hit on Zhou's previous masters, since most of these masters would have no more control in the administration. Alternatively, these could all be staged to demonstrate the determination of the Xi administration to be clean and transparent. If the latter is true, then more retired senior standing committee would live their remaining days in fear.
Opinion by Wong Teck Yenn
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Report stated that Wang Qishan proposed demolishing “standing committee never to be criminalized” policy
In the
current round of anti corruption actions, Xi Jinping and Wang Qishan targeted
hundreds of cadres of deputy governors and higher ranks. With the major actions
taking place, everyone in the officialdom are in danger. No one has the heart
to focus on work.
It was
revealed, “Wang’s anti corruption actions are implemented nationwide by the
central disciplinary committee. Most local police and disciplinary committee
are not even aware of the whereabouts of those arrested. In Sichuan, more than
a hundred officials and businessmen were arrested and their whereabouts are unknown.
Their family members are also not notified. There seems to be no legal
procedures. This was more extreme than Bo Xilai’s anti-black acts. In
Guangdong, a few hundred middle-ranked cadres were arrested.”
According to
a report, it was Wang who proposed the cancellation of the age-old policy of “standing
committee to never be criminalized”. This was approved by the current standing
committee.
The report
commented, “During Mao’s days of anti-rightist, there were some markers in
implementing investigations. Today, anti corruption takes place anywhere
desired.”
Here is a
look at the definition of corruption:
Suspects associated
with the following conditions will be investigated:
1.
To
receive bribery of more than 5000 yuan
2.
To
receive bribery of less than 5000 yuan, but (1) compromised society interest as
a result of the act; or (2) make things difficult for investigating body; or
(3) acquire properties by force.
“If the
above is strictly implemented, which official can escape? Who is not fearful?”
An insider commented. “Directors and above find it difficult to travel these
days. Those who have children studying overseas, they have instructed their
children to not return to China.”
Researched
by: Wong Teck Yenn
Thursday, July 3, 2014
Xi Jinping’s visit to South Korea embarrassed Kim Jung Un
Xi’s visit to Korea on 3 and 4 July was first announced by China’s
foreign affairs on 27 June. North Korea’s defense committee proposed on 30 June
to terminate mutual slander with South Korea on 4 July.
Xi’s previous 2 predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao both visited
North Korea when they were newly ascended to their thrones before visiting the
South. This round, Xi reversed the practice.
Dagong Net quoted a researcher from Shanghai’s Social Science Institute,
saying China originally wanted to stick to original practice to first visit the
North before proceeding to the South. However, it was quoted that the North did
not cooperate with their requests. According to the original plan, Kim was supposed
to first visit Xi in Beijing before Xi goes to North, then the South. Since the
early 50s in the last century, Beijing has always deemed the North and fellow
comrades bonded over war.
The Norths have their historical reasons for being unhappy about Xi’s
move. In 1992, China established relationship with South Korea. In the same
year’s July, China’s foreign affairs minister Qian Qishen visited North’s Kim
II-Sung to elucidate the developments. The senior Kim said: China will decide their
internal affairs. Qian recalled in his memoir that in the decade of
relationship with the North, the senior Kim only briefly glanced at the gifts from
China and then bid farewell. Qian said: that was the shortest meeting of Kim
with Chinese officials, and that there were no functions to host the Chinese
thereafter as per practice. This demonstrated the senior Kim’s unhappiness with
China establishing contacts with the South.
Chaozhong news agency reported on 30 June that North Korea’s actions
have been irregular, and got worse with Kim Jung Un’s ascension to the throne. For
instance, Kim already called for termination to the mutual slander with the
South during his New Year speech. This was already acknowledged by both the
South and the North in February. However, within two months, the North’s propaganda
organization started verbally attacking South’s president Park
Geun-hye. The moment the North stopped chiding, they start to talk about how
Korea should be united. Such action was deemed totally fickle minded.
After China reported on Xi’s visit to the South on 27 June, the North
filed 2 missiles.
It was reported that North’s Kim was very unhappy about Xi’s visit to
South and not the North. It was also reported that Xi has discussed with Park
during the two days meeting in Seoul on the solutions to end nuclear warfare
and unification of the peninsular. These two questions are the most dreaded by
Kim.
It was also reported that within a short period, Kim would do something
significant. He would likely make an official visit for the first time since
his reign, not to China, but to Russia. Reports also stated that Kim has not
connected with China’s leaders since his ascension. This makes him much
inferior compared to his father. It was reported that since the death of Kim
Jong-il in December 2011, the leaders of North and China have not had any
official meetings.
Analysts
also commented: China and South Korea would likely issue an official joint
statement on 4 July with North Korea being a major concern. The North is
playing with the stick of missile and carrot of peace in the peninsular and seems
to be acting in a matured manner. However, be it carrot or stick, credibility is
critical to effectiveness. To a country that is credit-bankrupt, no one is
willing to believe in its words or deeds.
Wong Teck Yenn, John
Monday, August 20, 2012
Some thoughts about Neil Heywood’s case
As was expected, Gu Kailai was spared
the death penalty. Her accomplice Zhang Xiaojun was sentenced to only nine
years of imprisonment. This demonstrates the authorities’ intention to
trivialize the case, and to separate Gu from her husband Bo Xilai so as to
minimize whatever political impacts. Before the passing of judgment, rumours
were spreading like wild fire. Some claim Gu transferred US$8 billion overseas.
Some claimed Bo planted eavesdropping device on central government officials,
and was training military in Chongqing for ambitious purpose. There were so may
rumours, creating an image of notorious and greediness for Bo’s family.
Trivializing matter as the best
option
Unexpectedly,
the case that the authorities brought to light is Gu and Heywood is an
unrealized property case that had unresolved financial differences. There was
no mention of the original money laundering case. This is a first step to
isolate corruption charges against Bo. If Gu’s case involved money laundering,
then questions will surely arise as to where the money originated and whereto
is it going. This will directly impose question on Bo’s influence to accumulate
riches and be involved in corruption practice. This will also then prolong the
investigation of the case. More importantly, as a high ranking offer like Bo,
if he is involved in channeling money out of China, this will inevitable lower
the confidence of people in these top officials.
In order to mitigate political losses, the authorities labelled
Gu’s case as one of an unresolved political conflict. This isolates all links
to corruption and money laundering. This is crucial to trivializing the whole
matter miraculously. It also explains why Gu was able to plead guilty quickly
in court. At the same time, the court determined Heywoods initiated the
threats, and provided the relevant evidence to support such determination. This
provided justification for Gu to kill in order to protect her son.
Heywoods case is the most challenging and complex political
problem for the fourth generation CCP leaders. If not handled properly, there
would be no legal justification. The forum discussion would also not be
pacified. As a result of Wang Lijun’s escaping to the US embassy, political
pressures from US and UK were plentiful. However if a thorough investigation
was launched, the CCP’s image would surely be tarnished. People’s emotions
would also be severely rocked. Hence, trivializing matter is the obvious best
option.
Gu’s case is determined and judgment passed. Next, would
be Wang Lijun. Wang used to be a hero amongst the police circle. Today, he is
labelled a betrayal of the nation. What is worth pondering: Wang knew all along
about Gu’s plan to kill. After Gu’s killing, Wang even privately made private
recordings. While handling the scene of Heywood’s death, he was directing some
close aides to create an impression that Heywoods committed suicide. On the
other hand, he also instigated his aides to obtain Heywood’s blood as evidence
for future allegations against Gu for murdering.
If Wang was truly righteous, he would have reported
the incident when he first got hold of evidence. Why did he wait for more than two
months before escaping to US embassy? What caused Wang to eventually betray his
master to protect himself? Gu accused Wang in court that Wang was malicious. What
does this mean? These are keys to unveiling the truth behind Chongqing’s sudden
political changes.Wong Teck Yenn
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Will Xi eventually succeed Hu? – New Perspective Based on Latest China Political Development (Part 2 of 3)
The second school of thought is the fact that Xi was not appointed the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission at the Fourth Plenum of the 17th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. This came as a big surprise to many. Observers like Cheng Li, a political analyst at the Brookings Institution in Washington, felt that this could be the start of a phase where China will spread out the power of the top leader into various hands, unlike the past where top leaders must hold on to leadership to the party, nation and military.
However, this is unlikely as Deng Xiaoping, in a speech entitled “The Top Priority of the Third Collective Leadership”, elaborated on the importance of power consolidation on one core personality as the top leader. Jiang Zemin was the first beneficiary of this policy and Hu was the second. The previous time two leaders shared the party, country and military power, the disastrous Tiananmen incident of 1989 took place. No matter how much infighting is taking place in China amongst the different factions, no one party would desire such political instability. As such, with political stability as the top concern of the leaders, it is unlikely that, be it Hu or the retired elders who still have voting rights to select top leadership candidates, China would see a situation where the leadership of the party, country and military fall in different hands.
Wong Teck Yenn
Wong Teck Yenn
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Will Xi eventually succeed Hu? – New Perspective Based on Latest China Political Development (Part 1 of 3)
Recently, China political observers have been entertaining a new thought – that the heir apparent to Hu Jintao might not be Xi Jinping after all. While such rumors are rampant and ongoing due to the lack of openness of the political culture in China, there are at least three different schools of thoughts to support these speculations.
The first school of thought is based on the Shanghai World Expo this year. On the 30 April, Shanghai World Expo was officially launched at the World Expo Cultural Centre. All the standing committee members for the Chinese Communist Party (“CCP”) Politburo (the most important 9-men team to determine every political aspects of China) were present except for Wen Jiabao, Wu Bangguo and Jia Qinglin.
The whole event, which will last for six months, was initially budgeted to cost US$4.2 billion, which is twice the amount for the Olympics in 2008. However, according to the China media, actual amount spent could blow up to as high as US$58 billion. This was captured and commented by the western media to be an opportunity for China to flex its muscle to show its prowess. It is precisely because China views this event with utmost importance that political observers noticed an interesting and suggestive scenario during the opening ceremony. As is all major activities attended by Chinese national leaders, during the TV broadcast of the opening ceremony, the six present politburo standing committee members appeared in the sequence of Hu Jintao, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang. The total opening ceremony was divided into two parts. After the ceremony at the Cultural Center, the national leaders and guests proceeded to the Huangpu VIP arena for the fireworks display.
In this second part of the opening, the camera first captured Hu and his wife, then turned to fireworks display. Next on TV, in sequence, were Li Changchun, Li Keqiang and Zhou Yongkang, and then the fireworks. Half a minute later, Xi Jinping (the heir apparent to Hu), He Guoqiang and Wang Qishan were featured. This sequence raised much discussion amongst scholars and observers. Even though Li Keqiang was seating beside Li Changchun and not Hu, the fact that he appeared earlier after Hu than Xi raised speculations. The sequence, frequency and conditions of official media appearance in China politics, especially with the presence of President Hu, are considered very sensitive and highly controlled issues.
At the same time, both Xi and Li arrived in Shanghai on 29 April. The official media provided extensive reports on these two fifth-generation leaders. Upon close study of these coverage (which is a common practice in order to decipher the hidden messages in an otherwise not-so-transparent China government), analysts felt that the 29th reports gave more coverage for Xi while the 30th coverage skewed towards Li.
First, let’s look at Xi’s activities. On the 29th, accompanied by Li Yuanchao, Xi toured the Shanghai World Expo Park. According to the official Xinhua news, Xi toured the various pavilions of China, United Nations, Germany, Denmark and North Korea. The official media provided extensive and detailed coverage of the pavilions that he visited. In the evening, he met up with Columbia’s Vice President Francisco Santos. The following day, Xi had a meeting with the President of the Sixty-Fourth Session of the United Nations General Assembly Dr. Ali Abdussalam Treki.
Next, let’s look at Li’s coverage. On the 30th, Li visited several of the above pavilions as Xi did. Thereafter, he met up with Greece’s Deputy Prime Minister Theodoros Pangalos and the former president of Chile Michelle Bachelet Jeria separately. Li discussed several cooperation opportunities with them and the discussions were reported in the media.
From the above, in the absence of Premier Wen, Vice-Premier Li, who was supposedly the preferred successor by Hu, appeared to have more extensive and in-depth news coverage relative to Xi.
During the days of Mao Zedong, when the political positional structure was not exactly clear cut, the way academics and analysts, both in and out of China, used to determine the political status of individuals was by the type and extent of media coverage. For example, when Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping were in power, they were always seen next to Mao in official pictures in the media. After the Great Leap Forward and the commencement of the Cultural Revolution, both Liu and Deng were never spotted beside Mao. Replacing them in the official media pictures was Lin Biao, who was made the unofficial heir apparent of Mao.
According to scholar Alan Liu, in the article “The Politics of Corruption in the People's Republic of China” published in the American Political Science Review, all political media coverage in the China official press must be preapproved by the propaganda department. This means that all politically sensitive issues have been thought through and whatever published should be in conjunction with the CCP’s policies. In this case, while it is commonly believed that Xi will succeed Hu in 2012, the fact that Li appeared earlier than Xi, as mentioned above, and that Li had more positive and extensive coverage during this high profile event seemed to hint of a possible power shift, if a parallel is drawn to that of Mao.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
The New Four Elite Families (Chinese Communism after Mao and Deng – Part 5)
While it has been commonly accepted that the intensity of corruption during Deng Xiaoping’s era was not serious as compared to today, there was still a saying of the Four Elite Families in Beijing back then (in comparison to the four Elite Families within Taiwan’s Kuomintang of Jiang, Song, Kong, and Chen). This referred to the families of Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun, Ye Jianyiing and Wang Zhen.
According to Chinese political observers, Beijing has lately emerged a New Elite Family listing originated from the fortune ranking of the new Princelings. Ranked first is the son of Zhu Rongji – Zhu Yunlai[1]. Second place is Zeng Qinghong’s son – Zeng Wei[2]. Third place goes to Wen Jiabao’s son – Wen Yunsong[3]. And the fourth position belongs to Jiang Zemin’s son – Jiang Mianheng[4].
Hence, the New Four Elite Families of the CCP was unofficially borne. However, observers are keeping their fingers crossed on the sustainability of these Princeling’s fortunes after the 18th CCP Congress, as the heir apparent of Hu Jintao – Xi Jinping – has appeared to be a very anti-corruption leader hitherto.
(………… coming up next: The return of the previous nobles ……………..)
Wong Teck Yenn
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