China’s “Bo Xilai” Scandal – The Special, the Astonishing & the Peculiar – Part 3
One cannot deny the fact that Bo Xilai scandal, the silent support he received during that time, and the formation of a new political party were sequence of events that had started a new era in China.
Special
Things such as filing a suit against the member of a politburo in China, keeping that court proceeding active for a long period of time, and choosing a court that was several hundred kilometers away from the person’s jurisdiction proved to be detrimental to the image of the communist ruling party’s robust image. It was the influence of Xilai which was attributed to these actions. The world witnessed the level of difficulties Chinese Government faced while dragging a popular Chinese political leader to court.
Xilai’s supporters were also claiming that the name of Xilai’s wife was also 'put' in the Heywood murder case. The political party had been cautious in declaring “Suspended Death” as a verdict after she was found guilty. However, they decided to watch her behaviour for some time before executing the capital punishment. No one was able to answer the question of why the Chinese Government was being so cautious about a corrupt Leader. The same government had mercilessly killed thousands of youngsters in Tiananmen Square earlier.
Astonishing
China became the second largest economy by even surpassing Japan. In spite of that the economic problems of China have not been resolved. The leaders of China need to admit it. The imbalance in China is increasing at a rapid rate. Many are accusing China of its opportunistic approaches. Leaders such as Bo Xilai oppose such opportunistic behaviour. They demand economic and social justice. They represent such well thought out Communist Party.
The foreign media is speculating that such differences of opinion against Xilai amongst the remaining members of the Communist Party are responsible for such cracks. Members of the politburo and also the past prominent members are supporters of Xilai. It is also said that Xilai has a huge influence on the defence services of China. Therefore, the President, the Prime Minister had to challenge the army in the interim time period. “Please do not be intellectually divided” was the message these leaders were constantly bombarding the army with. Therefore the Bo Xilai scandal proves to be one of the most important and prominent political incidents from the recent past in the world.
Peculiar While the court hearing of Bo Xilai was in progress, an American daily had printed information about enormous foreign investment of the current Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao. There were some intense reactions from China. During this court hearing Chinese Government had kept a close vigil on its social networking sites.
In spite of that those who spoke in favor of Xilai were in very large numbers. It stood as a sore thumb in the eyes of Chinese Government. China does not have a tradition of such free expression of opinions. The Chinese political system still has not found an answer to questions such as how do we contain the power of social networks. They do not know what to do with democratic systems, such as social networking. Therefore, in spite of banning the use of Facebook and Twitter, Chinese people are widely using Weibo which has been provided by the Government. The “Bo Xilai Scandal” ensured that the Chinese citizens get used to expressing their opinions on political topics freely.
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