Word: hu
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When China's President Hu Jintao appeared last weekend on a flag-bedecked dais alongside his predecessor, Jiang Zemin, and called for national unity, many Chinese instead heard evidence of discord...
...Jiang - had been dismissed from his post for allegedly misusing hundreds of millions of dollars from the city's pension fund. Chen's removal and the detentions that have, in its wake, ensnared other power-brokers believed to be allies of Jiang, have fueled theories that that President Hu and his predecessor are engaged in a factional power struggle. Thus when Jiang and Hu appeared together last weekend to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of the Communists' historic Long March, many speculated that they were making a show of solidarity to mask factional conflict...
...Proponents of this view ask why, if the primary goal of Hu's corruption probe - reported to now include investigation of Beijing officials - is to end corruption, why not make the entire process transparent? Why not allow the Chinese media to investigate Chen's crimes and write about them? Why not allow a court in Shanghai to try him, instead of conducting the whole process under a cloak of secrecy? Why try to fight corruption using the same opaque apparatus that allows it to flourish in the first place? The secrecy surrounding the whole operation fuels speculation over whether Hu...
...Communist Party's unchallenged rule. It is certainly in the interests of the Party leader to at least appear to be tackling it within his own ranks. And he doesn't seem inclined to get that job done through political liberalization, empowering the courts or unleashing the media. Instead, Hu appears to favor a mixture of moral suasion (he's launched internal reeducation campaigns for party cadres), and the punishment of a few to scare the many. Of course, in a system where corruption is endemic, it's a fair bet he has a wide range of potential targets...
...Shanghai Party boss Chen Liangyu had multiple meanings. On one level, the purge of a prominent Politburo member-over allegations that Chen allowed associates to milk Shanghai's pension accounts to fund investments in the city's booming real estate-was widely seen as a political move by President Hu Jintao to consolidate power ahead of next year's Party Congress. On a second level, Chen's arrest, along with the news late last week that real estate speculation was also under scrutiny in other parts of the country, reflected Beijing's seriousness about taking China's overheated property markets...