Special to WorldTribune.com

By Willy Lam, East-Asia-Intel.com

The Bo Xilai bombshell has not only shattered the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) façade of unity but also exposed serious problems in the system due to the two decades-long moratorium on political reform.

Rumors are circulating in Chinese Cyberspace that Bo, the charismatic Party Secretary of Chongqing who was sacked on March 15, was planning the equivalent of a coup d’etat against President Hu Jintao and the crown prince, Vice President Xi Jinping.

These stories, which appeared in many popular micro-blogs, also claimed that Bo, 62, had tried to put together a military force in his bid to become CCP general secretary at the 18th Party Congress scheduled for this October.

While these far-fetched tales are largely made up by China’s highly imaginative Netizens and bloggers, they do reflect serious rifts at the higher echelons of the Party leadership.

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  18th Party Congress, Chinese Communist Party, Chongqing, coup d’etat, High-level political intrigue fuels rumors in Beijing following ouster of Bo Xilai, Hu Jintao, Xi Jinping