Ming Pao: Bo Xilai surrendered to Hu Jintao and gave up singing for celebrities and fighting against gangs (photo)

Ming Pao: Bo Xilai surrendered to Hu Jintao and gave up singing for celebrities and fighting against gangs (picture) Bo Xilai, Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, chaired a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal Committee again recently and listened to...

Bo Xilai, Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, chaired a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Chongqing Municipal Committee again recently and listened to a report on the implementation of President Hu Jintao's "314 overall deployment". Bo Xilai said that the "314" overall deployment is "the general outline of Chongqing's development and has important guiding significance." Analysts believe that since the incident of Wang Lijun, deputy mayor of Chongqing, entering the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu at the beginning of this month, the tone of Bo Xilai's speech has changed. He no longer emphasizes "singing red and fighting gangsters" as before. Instead, he frequently mentions reform and opening up and the "Scientific Outlook on Development", emphasizing common prosperity, which means showing sincerity to the central government.

According to Singapore media reports, Wang Lijun's problem is likely to be characterized as an "intermittent psychotic episode." The impact of the incident on Bo Xilai may not be as severe as outside speculation. Bo's experience in governing Chongqing will continue to be recognized.

According to the "Chongqing Daily" report, at the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee Standing Committee meeting chaired by Bo Xilai last Friday (24th), it was proposed to use the "314 Overall Deployment" as the general outline to further deepen reform, expand opening up, and promote Chongqing's scientific development. The report quoted the meeting as saying that the "314 Overall Plan" provides navigation and orientation for Chongqing's development, enhances Chongqing's strategic status and points out Chongqing's development direction.

Bo Xilai said that after five years of hard work, Chongqing has enlarged its economic aggregate and promoted social fairness and justice. The fundamental thing is to persist in serving the people and persisting in reform and opening up. Not only have there been innovations and breakthroughs in reform, but we have also made significant progress in opening up to the outside world. He said that in the next step, we must take the "314 Overall Plan" as the general outline to further deepen reform and expand opening up, pay more attention to improving people's livelihood and promoting common prosperity, strive to promote scientific development, and live up to the central government's trust and the people's expectations.

"314 Overall Deployment" refers to the 3 positionings, 1 goal and 4 tasks (see separate article) made by President Hu Jintao for the development of Chongqing when he attended the Chongqing delegation meeting during the National "Two Sessions" in March 2007. Wang Yang, then Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Party Committee, called it an "important guideline" for accelerating the development of Chongqing. When Bo Xilai first arrived in Chongqing, he said, "After I arrive in Chongqing, my most important task is to work with everyone to implement the "314" overall deployment made by the General Secretary." However, in recent years, he has rarely mentioned the "314 overall deployment" in his speeches.

After the Wang Lijun incident, Bo Xilai, except for accompanying Macau's former Chief Executive Edmund Ho Hau Wah to watch a red song performance, never mentioned the much-talked-about "singing reds and fighting gangsters" in his previous speeches. Instead, he repeatedly emphasized "reform and opening up" and the "scientific outlook on development" proposed by Hu Jintao. He also frequently mentioned "common prosperity", which was a sign of sincerity to the central government of Beijing.

Singapore's "Lianhe Zaobao" quoted sources in Beijing the day before yesterday saying that Wang Lijun's problem is likely to be characterized as an intermittent psychotic episode. The impact of the incident on Bo Xilai is expected to be that his chances of joining the Politburo Standing Committee have plummeted. However, Bo Xilai's experience in governing Chongqing continues to be recognized.

Reports stated that Wang Lijun’s request after entering the Consulate General was not to seek political asylum, but to leave Chongqing safely and wait for the central government to send someone to pick him up. It is said that Wang Lijun once kept his own certificates for all his remarks at the US consulate. The United States also handed over the recording of Wang Lijun's conversation to the Chinese government.