Posted on 04/23/2012 3:04:49 PM PDT by Zhang Fei
Wen JiaBao’s PLA unit and Zhou YongKang’s security force were in a standoff, over the custody of Xu Ming, an associate of Bo XiLai. Eventually Zhou’s force was driven out. Zhou is an ally of Bo XiLai. Wen was investigating Bo.
Zhou gained custody of Xu Ming first on Mar. 14. On Mar. 19, Wen found out and ordered that Xu Ming be turned over to him. But Zhou resisted. He had Xu moved to another location, but on the way they lost custody of Xu to Wen’s people. Zhou then deployed a security force to regain custody of Xu. Zhou’s force surrounded ZhongNanHai, where Xu had apparently been taken. They got into a standoff with the PLA unit 8341*, which was in charge of ZhongNanHai. They were all armed and the two groups were in a yelling match late into the night. Eventually the PLA unit drove out Zhou’s forces.
Afterwards, Zhou was investigated for the incident and wrote self-criticisms**.
Xu Ming is currently being detained and investigated in regard to Bo XiLai’s case.
* Unit 8341 is basically a palace guard unit with 8000 troops.
** He wasn't purged, presumably because such a move could have ignited a wider conflict between his supporters and Wen's partisans.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.chosun.com ...
“How close China came to civil war, we can only wonder...”
Very close, I imagine.
About twenty years ago I met a Chinese student who claimed to be the daughter of a Red Chinese leader who’d revolted against the central authorities and had control of the local forces in his province. He’d sent her and the family to the US for their safety and she was studying finance. I always thought her story interesting, like the Gov. of Arizona in open armed conflict with DC, but didn’t think it was really true or fully accurate. Now I think she very much might have been telling the truth.
Being a simple-minded American I found myself placing name order correctly and wondering who is Bi Den Jo, Ba Ma O and Bay Nor Xian. Thanks for the clarification. ;-]
Interesting Times for sure. (Which in and of itself appears to be a myth - apparently there is no such Chinese curse - “May you live in Interesting Times”).
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