Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Man Who Wasn't There (Secret Coup in China)
Foreign Policy ^ | 2/25/2014 | Isaac Stone Fish

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 ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: 201402; boxilai; ccp; china; communistparty; coup; coupplot; missingman; petrochina; shen; shendingcheng; soros; zhou; zhouyongkang
The man who has been referred to as the "J. Edgar Hoover" of China has gone missing and no one in China, officially, seems to have noticed.
1 posted on 02/26/2014 12:43:05 PM PST by mojito
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: mojito

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.


2 posted on 02/26/2014 12:54:11 PM PST by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: TigersEye

Pei-Ping.


3 posted on 02/26/2014 12:54:21 PM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SoConPubbie

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.


4 posted on 02/26/2014 1:00:39 PM PST by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: FReepers

Click The Pic To Donate

Support FR, Donate Monthly If You Can

5 posted on 02/26/2014 1:37:02 PM PST by DJ MacWoW (The Fed Gov is not one ring to rule them all)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mojito

But, but, their infrastructure is so much more advanced than ours.


6 posted on 02/26/2014 1:41:06 PM PST by mwilli20 (BO. Making communists proud all over the world.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mojito

“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.


7 posted on 02/26/2014 1:43:06 PM PST by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mojito

can you put in the rest of the story. you have to sign up for foreign policy to read the rest.


8 posted on 02/26/2014 2:44:43 PM PST by ckilmer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mojito

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.


9 posted on 02/26/2014 3:12:47 PM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy (WoT News: Rantburg.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: yefragetuwrabrumuy

Murderously angry? Against Soros? Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.


10 posted on 02/26/2014 3:56:25 PM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: ckilmer

I haven’t signed up and I can access the entire article.


11 posted on 02/26/2014 3:58:07 PM PST by mojito (Zero, our Nero.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: mojito

I’m getting an ad that blocks my access.


12 posted on 02/26/2014 4:10:13 PM PST by ckilmer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson