Free Republic

China: Two Incidents Open Pandora’s Box – Analysis May 22, 2012 By Bhaskar Roy Two incidents, one regarding Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai, and the other involving a blind human rights activist and self-taught lawyer Chen Guangchen, destroyed the myth that the Chinese system is a well oiled machine. Policy, individual, and bitter factional rivalries are kept sealed from the public to ensure the Party’s inviolability. This is the biggest political quake the country has experienced since the 1989 Tiananmen Square incident. The new age of social communication, the internet, has also damaged the Party’s secrecy. Even people inside the...

**SNIP** The Secret Service “knowingly allowed Chinese generals, disguised in civilian clothing, to meet administration personnel at the White House and logged them as ‘business guests’ at the administration’s request so as to avoid transparency,” Byrne wrote. The agency also didn’t check the contents of the paper bags that were brought into those meetings. In his previous book, “Crisis of Character,” Byrne claimed that the former Secretary of State was so demanding that many agents turned to drugs and alcohol.