Chinese police chief suspected of trying to defect visited consulate, US confirms

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/09/chinese-police-chief-us-consulate

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The Chinese police chief rumoured to have attempted defection amid political intrigue visited a US consulate this week, Washington has confirmed.

Political observers and internet users have been gripped by speculation about Wang Lijun's case since hundreds of police surrounded the building in south-western Chengdu on Tuesday and officials in nearby Chongqing said he was receiving "vacation-style treatment" for stress.

Asked about Wang, a top Chinese diplomat said it was an "isolated incident" and had been "resolved quite smoothly", the Associated Press reported. The deputy foreign minister, Cui Tiankai, who was briefing reporters on vice-president Xi Jinping's trip to the US next week, said it would not affect the visit.

Wang became known nationally for leading a crackdown on organised crime in Chongqing at the behest of the city's ambitious party secretary, Bo Xilai. The bigger question is how his case may affect Bo's prospects – and more generally the transition of power to a new generation of leaders this year.

He was regarded as a key ally of Bo and was appointed vice-mayor in May. But Wang's abrupt transferral to non-police duties last week led to claims that the two men had fallen out.

The state department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington: "Wang Lijun did request a meeting at the US consulate general in Chengdu earlier this week in his capacity as vice-mayor. The meeting was scheduled, our folks met with him, he did visit the consulate and he later left the consulate of his own volition … Obviously, we don't talk about issues having to do with refugee status, asylum."

She added that to her knowledge, the consulate had not been in contact with Wang since then.

The Chongqing information office did not answer calls on Thursday.

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) cited sources suggesting Wang had been flown to Beijing. There have been claims that investigators from the party's discipline and inspection committee arrived in Chongqing recently.

"It seems certain that Wang has got himself into major trouble and once the anti-triad campaign is allowed to be reviewed, it will be a decisive blow to Bo's career," Prof Yuan Weishi, a historian at Guangzhou's Sun Yat-sen University, told the SCMP.

Wang, 52, was born into a Mongolian family in northern Liaoning province. He became a traffic police officer in 1984 but rose rapidly through the ranks, earning a reputation as a gang-buster – and, according to Chinese media reports, a 6m yuan price on his head from enraged triads.

Observers think the fallout from events in Chongqing could mean a bumpy ride for Bo, who had been tipped to join the Politburo standing committee, and others. That could recast the broader political outlook, potentially to the benefit of liberals alarmed by what they see as Bo's leftist tendencies.

While many Chongqing residents welcomed the anti-triad campaign, critics accused it of trampling on the rule of law.

It is widely assumed Xi will become general secretary and president of China, with Li Keqiang taking over as president. But in a system of collective leadership, the composition of the full standing committee is crucial and analysts have warned that competition for places is fierce.

"The growing openness of self-promotion campaigns by some of these ambitious politicians, their idiosyncratic initiatives and policy interests, and their respective strengths and weaknesses have made this upcoming political succession a particularly challenging one for the [Communist party] leadership," wrote the Brookings Institute analyst Cheng Li in a recent paper.