More Inside Dope from Financial Times, Mar 22, 2012

choi

A report and two articles appear in today's newspaper.

A must-read which does not demand sign-in, (1) apparently resolves three important puzzles. There is no need to read (2) or (3), besides the quotation.

(1) Jamil Anderlini, Beijing on Edge Amid Coup Rumours; Speculation rife in capital after purge; Talk of gun battles at compound. page 6.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/650bb0 ... 3-00144feab49a.html

Quote:

"In one rumor that spread rapidly on Monday night, a military coup had been launched by Zhou Yonggkanf, an ally of Mr Bo's and the man in charge of China's state security apparatus, and gun battles had erupted in Zhongnanhai * * * However, one person with close ties to China’s security apparatus said Mr Zhou had been ordered not to make any public appearances or take any high-level meetings and was 'already under some degree of control.'" pp 5 and 7

"The same person said Mr Bo * * * was under house arrest while his wife had been taken away for investigation into suspected corruption, a common charge levelled at senior officials who have lost out in power struggles. Although this information could not be immediately confirmed, documents and radio recordings circulating appear to substantiate the claim that members of Mr Bo's family were under investigation for corruprtion even before his trusted police chief, Wang Lijun, fled" p 8

"Netizens and one source with close ties to China's top leaders said the illegimate son of a politburo standing committee member was killed in the [Ferrari] crash and two young women were badly hurt." last paragraph

Note:
(a) In quotation 2, note the plural form of "members."
(b) Regarding point 3, compare
(i) Josh Chin and Brian Spegele, China Reins In Bo Xilai Chatter Online. China Real Time, Mar 22, 2012
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB ... 95462500007558.html
("In the current overheated atmosphere, unexpected news is being parsed for political meaning. For instance, speculation has swirled about the identity of a man killed on Sunday morning when the Ferrari he was driving crashed into a bridge on a Beijing highway and shattered into pieces. Online rumors that the driver was the son of a high-level central-government official picked up steam after censors moved aggressively to quash discussion of the accident. Police told local media that the circumstances surrounding the crash, in which two female passengers were seriously injured, are still being investigated")

Please take notice of the uncertainty, about both the identity and level of the official.
(ii) The previous blog on Ferrari crash:

Josh Chin, China Watch: Mysterious Ferrari Crash, Deficit Doomsayer, Stopping Reincarnation. China Real Time, Mar 22, 2012
http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealti ... n/?KEYWORDS=ferrari
(item 1 only, pointing to a Chinese newspaper)


(2) David Pilling, The Threat to the Post-Mao Consensus; After the purge. at page 9 (columnist).

Quote:

"The last emperor of China was Mao Zedong. One of Deng Xiaoping's most important achievements after Mao's death was to rid the system of an all-powerful head, the charismatic figure around which the whole system revolved. The Mandate of Heaven perished in 1976, which is why the pre- and post-Maoist political syastems have almost nothing in common despite the fact that they were both nominally communist. * * * The purge of charisma is complete. Or at least it was until Bo Xilai burst on to the scene." pp 1-2

"Post-Mao, China has instead built a meritocratic collective leadership that rules by consensus." p 3

"Mr Bo, until last week party secretary of Chongqing, is the most dramatic manifestation of the challenge from within [the party]. * * * Like Mr Wang [Yang], Mr Bo also rose from the bottom ranks of the Communist party hierarchy, despite the fact that he was the 'princeling' son of one of eight immortals of Mao's revolutionary generation." p 7

"Mr Bo's main crime, allegations of brutality and corruption aside, was the fact that much of his power derived not from the party but from his own popularity. * * * This is what forced the party to lift what Jon Huntsman, former US ambassador to Beijing, calls the 'velvet curtain' [see (1)] and expose the infighting behind the facade of party unanimity.

(3) . . . as Chinese Corruption Plays Catch-Up. at page 9 (cloumnist)
("Most people [in China] believe that real estate will rebound as soon as policy is loosened, but recent experience from the US, Spain and Ireland suggests that overbuilt houosing markets take years to correct. This could spell bad news for China, where residential construction accounts for about 13 per cent of gross domestic product")