The most colorful and controversial politician in China, Bo Xilai has defied his contemporaries’ strategy of moving up by keeping their heads down.
Son of a revolutionary hero, putting him firmly in the “princeling” faction of the Communist Party, Mr. Bo has never hidden his ambition to reach the top. After running one of the up and coming cities on the east coast – Dalian – Bo served a spell as minister of Commerce before being sent to take charge of Chongqing, which boasts of being the largest city in the world.
There he grabbed national attention by launching a crackdown on mafia-style triad groups which led to the arrest and imprisonment of a number of senior party figures (and the execution of a former police chief). In another act of showmanship, he also made headlines with his campaign to restore Mao-era songs and ideology.
His lack of humility, however, has made him many enemies. Earlier this month one of his closest aides, the police chief who had run his anti-Mafia campaign, was taken into detention after apparently seeking asylum in a US consulate.
That was a major blot on Bo’s copybook – and an indication that powerful rival forces are aiming at him by gunning for his adjutant.
Indeed, he was abruptly dismissed amid scandal March 15, ending his ambition of a top post.
Never in recent Chinese history has such a senior Communist Party leader fallen so dramatically and so publicly from grace. His removal was widely expected to complicate a key year of political transition in China.
