Posted on 02/26/2014 12:43:05 PM PST by mojito
It was an easy story to miss.
On Feb. 22, the Beijing newspaper China Business Herald, citing an anonymous source, reported that PetroChina International Vice President Shen Dingcheng had been missing for weeks. As a single point of data, the story means little. But the disappearance of Shen (which dozens of other Chinese news outlets covered) is likely another piece of the still unfolding and maddeningly opaque saga of Zhou Yongkang. Shen, it turns out, served as Zhou's secretary for part of the 1990s. Formerly one of the most powerful men in China, Zhou ran China's state security apparatus as a member of the Politburo Standing Committee -- the top Communist Party body -- from 2007 to 2012. Now, the party is almost certainly trying to bring him down: Reportedly under house arrest, the 71-year-old Zhou hasn't been seen in public since October, and dozens, if not hundreds, of men connected to him have been arrested.
Zhou's case -- if there is indeed a case against him -- is arguably the most important Chinese corruption investigation in decades, if not in the People's Republic of China's 65-year-history. Yet -- and here's the maddeningly opaque part -- we can only hypothesize about the what, when, why, and how of "the case." This murky struggle, playing out behind closed doors throughout China, is inaccessible to those outside China's elite. Even the "who" isn't confirmed: Beijing has not announced Zhou is under investigation, nor have any Chinese officials said on the record that Zhou is under suspicion, and domestic Chinese media doesn't dare to print Zhou's name in articles about the investigations of his subordinates.
(Excerpt) Read more at foreignpolicy.com ...
Using the word “Corrupt” to characterize the behavior of a Chinese official is like using the word “Chinese”.
They don’t believe in God, they support Communism and as a result, the meaning of words we take for granted are completely meaningless.
Pei-Ping.
I find China the most sinister and loathsome regime in the world today, with the possible exception of their “ally,” North Korea.
Iran, though governed by ruthless murderous maniacs, seems positively open in comparison.
But, but, their infrastructure is so much more advanced than ours.
“Opaque” doesn’t begin to describe it. I used to hang with a serious Kremlin-watcher and he could rattle off these labyrinthine relationships like football scores. It’s why there are specialists, I guess.
can you put in the rest of the story. you have to sign up for foreign policy to read the rest.
I think this can be traced back to the Bo Xilai scandal.
Xilai was an extremely popular up and coming politician who used two techniques that unsettled the leadership. Populism, which in China still reminds people of the murderous Cultural Revolution; and Maoist style police state tactics in his domain.
But what had everybody puzzled was how his city was just economically going gangbusters. Always winning, never losing. He seemed to have the magic touch and looked like a good prospect for eventual supreme leader.
And then the leadership found out how he did this. In particular, he had a billionaire foreign backer who was artificially propping him up, hoping that eventually he would rule China.
Your friend and mine, George Soros.
Soros actually had the chutzpah to think that he could become the power behind the throne for all of China.
It goes without saying that when the Chinese leadership figured this out, it made them very, very angry. Murderously angry.
So anyone and everyone connected to Bo Xilai has been purged, and a lot of them probably executed for the Chinese equivalent of high treason.
The bottom line is that, if Zhou Yongkang had any connection to Bo Xilai, and he probably did, his name is mud.
Murderously angry? Against Soros? Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.
I haven’t signed up and I can access the entire article.
I’m getting an ad that blocks my access.
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