Interesting note at Asia Pacific Memo highlighting Utopia, China's popular neo-Maoist website, in the context of its support for Bo Xilai and the "Chongqing model" as set against the "Guangdong model" of fellow PSC candidate and rival Wang Yang. This strikes me as a false comparison: the fact that there are 'models' to compare is because the CPC allows regional bosses a huge amount of latitude in applying whatever models they want. There's no sign that this is going to change. On the other hand, we do see evidence here of a shadow party system emerging within and without the CPC - a conflict of policies rather than factional interests and competing guanxi networks.
As for Bo, he seems undaunted by the ongoing Wang Lijun scandal:
Mr Bo’s status as a well-connected princeling means that he is likely to be treated more carefully than other officials. But analysts said the apparent lack of any rebuke from Beijing was unusual and a potentially worrying sign of serious splits within the party.
“The proper procedure would suggest Bo should have been summoned to Beijing to explain the events in Chengdu but instead he was in Yunnan, touring, among other places, the headquarters of the 14th army, a military unit set up by his father,” said Victor Shih, a US academic and expert in elite Chinese politics. “It is highly irregular and somewhat disturbing that we haven’t seen a strong signal from the central government to show it is in control.”
Chinese media reported that Mr Bo visited a museum at a major military unit in Yunnan late last week. Some analysts have interpreted that as Mr Bo sending a message that he still enjoys support among the country’s military.
Hmm. It seems pretty clear now that Wang was targeted as a means of getting to Bo. Now Bo responds by paying a visit to his heavily armed best mates across the Southwest Military Region, which among other things also covers Tibet. Provocative.
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