Critical News Article



Critical News Article

Introduction

It is now world news that Bo Xilai, a high-ranking member of the 25-member Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party, has been removed from his key post as Party Secretary of the important Chongqing branch of the CCP. This move comes as the CCP is preparing to choose a new leadership this fall. Bo had been widely regarded as a clear candidate for the nine-member standing committee of the Politburo. The issue is now over. This is the first open breach in the Chinese CCP leadership in two decades. This development took place on 27th March 2012. Therefore, all the issues related to critical moment in today's news will be discussed in detail.

Background of the current development

Bo was known for trying to revive the culture of Mao Zedong through many public programs. He emphasized state intervention in the economy and advocated planning for massive low-income housing projects for migrant workers and others, as well as fighting to reduce inequality in general. Bo has also been known for a fierce anti-corruption campaign in which the masses were encouraged to point out corrupt officials and gangsters. Several thousand people were arrested, among them business people, and many were sent to jail. The highest police official in Chongqing was executed during the anti-corruption campaign. Bo was removed after an incident in which the subsequent police chief of Chongqing, Wang Lijun, who worked with Bo in a widely celebrated anti-corruption campaign, fled Chongqing on Feb. 6 to the U.S. Consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu and asked for political asylum. Therefore, this news has not come as a positive development for the country because the former member of Chinese Communist Party performed several accomplishments for providing benefit to the party (Bramall, 2009, 134).

The official view of party

According to Chinese government and party sources, the influential party member Wang claimed to have documents incriminating Bo. Wang was taken from the consulate, and is now being held in Beijing. There has been much speculation about Bo and Wang and what happened. Much has been alleged about Bo's flamboyant personal style, his ambition, a factional struggle within the leadership for position and so on. Perhaps all these factors played some role in his ouster. However, one thing is clear. The imperialists have all taken a position against Bo, and are overjoyed to see his downfall. To be sure, there is no evidence that Bo was trying to abandon the reliance on capitalism in China's development that followed the death of Mao. On the contrary, his outlook is fully within the general framework of using capitalism and foreign investment to grow the economy in Chongqing. However, within that framework, he emphasized the so-called “third hand,” the need for the state to play a significant role in the economy, to ensure the well-being of the masses and to reduce inequality as a matter of priority (Chen, 2000, 15).

Effect of global capitalist crisis

It is important to put this struggle in the broader ...