英媒：习近平欲废除劳教制度遇巨大阻力

choi

BBC Chinese, Nov 6, 2013
www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/simp/chin ... i_labour_camp.shtml

, which is based on

Benjamin Kang Lim and Ben Blanchard, Insight: Failure to End China's Labor Camps Shows Limits of Xi's Power. Reuters, No 6, 2013 (1 hour ago).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2 ... USBRE9A514U20131106

Quote:

(a) “Xi, whose father was sacked as vice premier and then imprisoned for seven years during the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, is deeply opposed to the use of labor camps for arbitrary detention and his failure to close them suggests he is not as strong as he appears, the sources said.
"’Xi Jinping loathes re-education through labor,’ a source who has known Xi since the 1990s told Reuters. Xi had approved a proposal by domestic security chief Meng Jianzhu to eradicate the system but was thwarted by conservative sections of the party, two other sources said.
(b) “There are several other instances of Xi being unable to push through his decisions. * * * Xi's choice of General Zhang Youxia 张又侠 as one of two vice chairmen of the Central Military Commission was vetoed by Jiang and Hu, who got two of their loyalists into the jobs, two sources said.
“Xi also failed to promote another political ally, He Yiting 何毅亭, to become the party's top researcher, the sources said. He 何 [not the English pronoun] settled for executive vice president of the Central Party School, which grooms up-and-coming cadres. Wang Huning, who has served both Jiang and Hu, held on to the researcher job.
(c) “‘Xi is no leftist,’ said a princeling source with ties to China's military and leadership. ‘It's for show. He's playing it up for the conservative old guard to win their loyalty.’
“Xi is neither a closet liberal nor an ultra-conservative, but a pragmatist, the sources say.
(d) “Ultimately, even those who know him well are divided on which way Xi will head over the next decade that he is likely to rule.