U.S. intelligence reports signs of division within Beijing leadership

Special to WorldTribune.com

Bill Gertz, Washington Free Beacon

Signs of a serious division within the ruling Communist Party of China are emerging over a crackdown on corruption led by current leader Xi Jinping, according to a recent U.S. intelligence report on the division.

Xu Caihou, right, and Bo Xilai in March 2012 at the National People's Congress. These two men were then among the most powerful leaders in China before Xi Jinping launched his anti-corruption drive seen by some as a mean of settling scores and silencing rivals. — Xu Caihou, right, and Bo Xilai in March 2012 at the National People’s Congress. These two men were then among the most powerful leaders in China before Xi Jinping launched his anti-corruption drive seen by some as a mean of settling scores and silencing rivals.

The political rift is being linked to a nationwide anti-corruption drive launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping, and to differences among top leaders over the purge of several of China’s most senior leaders who held posts at senior Party levels that in the past were immune to such crackdowns.

Corruption in China — bribery, graft, and abuse of power — remains a key feature of the reform communist system in place since the 1980s.

The recent unclassified intelligence report circulated within the U.S. government disclosed that the leadership rift is linked to the case against Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee, the seven-person collective dictatorship that rules China.

SEE COMPLETE TEXT

U.S. intelligence reports signs of division within Beijing leadership added by World Tribune on November 11, 2014
View all posts by World Tribune →