Chinese Leadership Upheaval

Mystery, corruption, intrigue and murder.  All the elements of a rip-rousing action thriller, set in an exotic location with political, privileged connections at the highest level of a country's rigid autocracy.  More than possibly augmented by a whiff of sex, and motivated by greed.  All the constituents of fascinating human-interest stories that captivate peoples' attention.

Certainly in China it has done.  And the waves of shock and fascination have lapped up on the shores of the international diplomatic community, global political leaders, and journalists world-wide.  All awaiting the continuation of this breaking, ever-more revealing continuum of immense prestige and power gone awry.

Where a leading figure in the firmament of Chinese political stars was set to join the leadership in Beijing and is now in disgrace and incommunicado.

He is suspended somewhere between denouement and utter, living hell.  A scion of a communist revolutionary hero, he was until just recently one of the most powerful men China has carefully modelled to join the ruling Politburo.  And then, suddenly, he was tainted, when his protege, Wang Lijun, Vice-mayor of Chongquing was rumoured to have sought haven at the U.S. consulate in Chengdu.

That status denied him, he exited the consulate and was immediately taken into official Chinese government custody.  Mystery of mysteries.  A dark veil of suspicion fell upon Bo Xilai, formerly Chongqing Municipality Communist Party secretary, and leader-in-waiting, prepared to inherit a leading place in the Politburo, a substantial leg up from a member of the 25-member Central Committee.

Mr. Bo's wife, the lovely Gu Kailai, and her trusted accomplice have been arrested on a charge of having slipped a poison potion into a drink offered a close business acquaintance, British businessman Neil Heywood.  Mr. Heywood obviously believed he could play with fire and not get burned.  Threatening to expose a situation of gross corruption and acquired wealth by stealth, he presented as a danger and a threat.

And was summarily dispatched.  Initially it wasn't suspected after his death that anything sinister had occurred.  But the investigation undertaken by Mr. Wang, soon revealed suspicion of the involvement of Gu Kailai.  When Mr. Wang approached his mentor Bo Xilai to inform him of his findings, the enraged Bo Xilai denied any such possible involvement and Mr. Wang fled in fear to the U.S. consulate, hoping to defect.

Mr. Heywood, it would appear, was engaged to assist the family of Mr. Bo in secreting their wealth, and transferring it to an overseas location.  But Mr. Heywood, as people are wont to do, in such circumstances, became greedy, insisting on receiving as payment a greater proportion of the wealth he was protecting, earning Ms. Gu's wrath when he warned he could expose her family to the authorities.

And thus was born a plot to kill to protect the reputation and the wealth of two of China's most entitled, elite members of the ruling Communist party.  Mr. Bo does have his supporters, however, as a response from one former government official who preferred to remain anonymous, clarifies: "This is an attempt to destroy Mr. Bo's reputation.  He had a reputation for being a moral person, and they are trying to discredit him in the eyes of the people.  Otherwise he would continue to be supported and they could not get rid of him."

But things are never as simple as they look, even in such a labyrinthine situation as what this one is turning out to represent.  It's not quite clear where the proverbial buck stops.  Because there appears to be a domino effect that is drawing down others, considered among the most powerful in the country, now seeming suddenly vulnerable.

Bo Xilai's ally and mentor, head of the domestic security apparatus, Zhou Yongkang, appears now to be implicated in some manner.  Chief of the powerful Political and Legislative Affairs Committee, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee - one of those powerful nine men in the Communist party, is now himself under investigation.

Even while top leaders of the party are facing the vexing problem of how Bo Xilai will be dealt with, they are also split over how to proceed in dealing publicly with Zhou Yongkang, even while the Committee of Disciplinary Inspection has begun investigating him.