Party media first mentioned Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan, accused of alluding to Bo Xilai

Party media first mentioned Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan, accused of alluding to Bo Xilai "People's Daily" published an article that denounced corruption and mentioned Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishaner who were executed for corruption after the founding of the People's Republic of China...

The People's Daily published an article that denounced corruption and mentioned that Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan were executed for corruption after the founding of the People's Republic of China. This was considered by the outside world to be a metaphor for today's Bo Xilai and became one of the evidences that Bo Xilai may be sentenced to death. Mitbbs.com

On April 14, Beijing time, the People’s Daily published a commentary harshly criticizing “special party members.” The next day, in the article "Govern the country first, govern the party" The article "We must be strict in party governance" stated that "without party regulations and party laws, it is difficult to protect national laws. From the decisive handling of the Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan corruption cases at the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China to the resolute investigation and handling of a series of illegal and disciplinary cases since the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, our party With the strong determination to govern the party first and to govern the party with strict discipline, we have strengthened the construction of party style and clean government from a strategic perspective that concerns the support of the people and the life and death of the party, constantly solved the problems within the party, and won the trust and support of the people." He also said, “The higher the position and the more powerful you are, the more strict you must be on self-discipline, and always respect, self-reflect, self-police, and self-motivate.” The sword pointed at Bo Xilai has obvious meaning. Mitbbs.com

After the official announcement on April 10 that Bo Xilai had been "double-suspended" by the central government, the outside world had speculated that Bo Xilai would be sentenced to death as he was also dismissed as a member of the Politburo. At this time, the People's Daily also announced "strict party discipline" and mentioned Liu and Zhang who were sentenced to death for corruption, suggesting that Bo Xilai might compare Beijing Municipal Party Committee Secretary Chen Xitong and Shanghai Municipal Party Committee Secretary Chen Liangyu. "Two Chen" were both imprisoned for corruption and were sentenced to 16 and 18 years respectively. However, according to the analysis of observers, judging from the current situation, the CCP’s coverage of Bo Xilai’s issue and propaganda and purge efforts are much greater than when dealing with the “Second Chen”, indicating that Bo Xilai’s problem and the sentence he faces are far more serious than those of the “Second Chen”. There are three specific reasons. Mitbbs.com

First of all, the amount of corruption committed by Bo Xilai is staggering, and his overseas assets exceed the 8 billion yuan previously rumored. It is reported that the egregious nature of the incident has shocked the top leaders of the CCP. According to the official press release issued by Xinhua News Agency on April 10 announcing the treatment of Bo Xilai's wife Gu Kailai, the last sentence emphasized in extremely rare and strong terms, "The person in charge of the relevant department stated that our country is a socialist country governed by the rule of law, and the dignity and authority of the law cannot be trampled upon. No matter who is involved, as long as they violate the law, they will be dealt with in accordance with the law and will not be tolerated." The tough wording is rare in recent years.

Secondly, in addition to serious corruption issues, Bo Xilai's possible involvement in criminal cases has also become his "weak spot". In the CCP announcement, in addition to the "double suspension" of Bo Xilai, it also reported that Bo Xilai's wife Gu Kailai and his servant Zhang Xiaojun were involved in the murder of British Heywood. Judging from the contents of "Document No. 3" and "Document No. 5" that have been confirmed and issued by the central government, it is basically certain that Gu Kailai killed Heywood. As Bo Xilai himself, even if he did not participate in the actual commission of the murder, he must have some knowledge of the inside story. However, he let it go and even obstructed his investigators, and retaliated against Wang Lijun, the former deputy mayor of Chongqing, because he knew the inside story, which directly caused Wang to leave the US Consulate and ignited the incident. Mitbbs.com

Although Bo Xilai never expected that the situation would develop to this point, in his view, one or two human lives are really not a "problem" compared to the interests of his family. This also reflects Bo's arrogant character from another aspect. What's more, there is currently evidence that in addition to the Heywood case, Bo may be involved in many other criminal cases. This is why the CCP has repeatedly issued orders to "strictly govern the party" and "no official shall violate party discipline and state laws." Mitbbs.com

Third, corruption is rampant in China's officialdom, and senior officials urgently need to "kill one and set an example". As China's reform deepens, the imperfect system in the social transformation period has led to rampant corruption in the Chinese Communist Party's officialdom in recent years, and people's dissatisfaction with official corruption has increased day by day. Mitbbs

According to statistics, nearly 20 senior executives at provincial and ministerial levels and above have been sentenced for corruption in recent years. However, due to the continuous improvement of the legal system, the Chinese government adheres to the principle of "no death penalty for economic crimes" when judging these senior officials, and most of them spare their lives. Even Chen Xitong and Chen Liangyu were released on bail in 2004 and 2009 respectively. However, this time when the CCP was dealing with the "Bo Xilai case", it mentioned Liu Qingshan and Zhang Zishan again in its external publicity, indicating that Bo Xilai may not follow the old routine this time. Furthermore, Xi Jinping has repeatedly raised the issue of "party purity" recently. Earlier this year, Lieutenant General Gu Junshan, deputy director of the General Logistics Department of the People's Liberation Army, was dismissed for corruption. Hu Jintao established a military audit team to purge the military and other series of actions. After the executions of Liu and Zhang, the Chinese people once said that the two heads bought twenty years of clean government in China's officialdom. The severe punishment of Bo Xilai before the 18th National Congress to clean up corruption was enough to strengthen the CCP's determination to fight corruption.