China's gang-busting city boss gets a national audience
AFP: China's gang-busting city boss gets a national audience
(AFP)
BEIJING — Bo Xilai, the charismatic head of China's Chongqing municipality, was mobbed by reporters Saturday as he arrived for a meeting where he vowed to continue a sensational crackdown on organised crime.
Chongqing, a sprawling city in southwestern China, has been the scene of a string of high-level prosecutions over corruption and mafia crime in a clampdown that has gripped the nation with lurid details of sex and violence.
"Gangs... have done everything possible to take advantage and exploit our lives," Bo, the city's communist party secretary, said at a meeting of Chongqing delegates on the second day of China's annual parliamentary session.
"So we must continue to fight them long-term, we must be mentally prepared for this."
At least nine people have been reported executed or sentenced to death in a crackdown that has split the nation, where some support it but others see it as a bid by Bo to climb up the national hierarchy.
The dapper 60-year-old, a former commerce minister known for his charisma, sense of publicity and good looks, has attracted controversy in a nation where politicians usually keep a low profile.
He arrived nearly one hour late at the meeting, flanked by bodyguards who tried unsuccessfully to keep a huge group of reporters from mobbing him.
Analysts believe Bo is angling for a spot on the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee, the top national leadership.
In response to a reporter's question on the subject in a Q&A session after the meeting, Bo laughed uneasily and indicated the press briefing was not the right place to raise the issue.
"We must not turn the subject around, we musn't talk about other unrelated issues," he said.
Bo said a total of 500 homicide cases linked to organised crime had been solved in 2009, adding there were up to 600 other cases that had not been delved into yet.
One case in particular has attracted strong controversy. Li Zhuang, a lawyer who defended a mob boss in the clampdown, was himself jailed for 30 months for fabricating evidence.
Bo defended his city's handling of the case, saying it has been carried out lawfully.
"We dealt with a lawyer, we let Chinese law deal with the case, so how did this arouse so much fuss?" he said.
AFP: China's gang-busting city boss gets a national audience
(AFP)
BEIJING — Bo Xilai, the charismatic head of China's Chongqing municipality, was mobbed by reporters Saturday as he arrived for a meeting where he vowed to continue a sensational crackdown on organised crime.
Chongqing, a sprawling city in southwestern China, has been the scene of a string of high-level prosecutions over corruption and mafia crime in a clampdown that has gripped the nation with lurid details of sex and violence.
"Gangs... have done everything possible to take advantage and exploit our lives," Bo, the city's communist party secretary, said at a meeting of Chongqing delegates on the second day of China's annual parliamentary session.
"So we must continue to fight them long-term, we must be mentally prepared for this."
At least nine people have been reported executed or sentenced to death in a crackdown that has split the nation, where some support it but others see it as a bid by Bo to climb up the national hierarchy.
The dapper 60-year-old, a former commerce minister known for his charisma, sense of publicity and good looks, has attracted controversy in a nation where politicians usually keep a low profile.
He arrived nearly one hour late at the meeting, flanked by bodyguards who tried unsuccessfully to keep a huge group of reporters from mobbing him.
Analysts believe Bo is angling for a spot on the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee, the top national leadership.
In response to a reporter's question on the subject in a Q&A session after the meeting, Bo laughed uneasily and indicated the press briefing was not the right place to raise the issue.
"We must not turn the subject around, we musn't talk about other unrelated issues," he said.
Bo said a total of 500 homicide cases linked to organised crime had been solved in 2009, adding there were up to 600 other cases that had not been delved into yet.
One case in particular has attracted strong controversy. Li Zhuang, a lawyer who defended a mob boss in the clampdown, was himself jailed for 30 months for fabricating evidence.
Bo defended his city's handling of the case, saying it has been carried out lawfully.
"We dealt with a lawyer, we let Chinese law deal with the case, so how did this arouse so much fuss?" he said.
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