The Bo Xilai incident refers to a series of events that began in the first half of 2012, involving Bo Xilai, member of the Politburo of the Chinese Communist Party and Party Secretary of Chongqing. These events were triggered by the Wang Lijun incident, which led to Bo Xilai's dismissal from the CCP Central Committee, the investigation of his "serious disciplinary problems" by the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the reinvestigation of the Neil Heywood death case, and the transfer of Bo Xilai's wife Gu Kailai, Bo Xilai's former confidant Wang Lijun, and Bo Xilai himself to judicial organs for sentencing.
The Bo Xilai case included the bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power case (referred to as the Bo Xilai case). The Bo Xilai incident had a huge impact on the politics of China. Some political observers, commentators, and media speculated that the incident would affect the pace of China's political reform. Since the dismissal and life imprisonment of Zhao Ziyang, former General Secretary of the CCP Central Committee in 1989, the CCP Central Committee no longer dismissed members of the Politburo on the grounds of political line errors, but began to deal with them on the grounds of violating party discipline and state laws. Bo Xilai was the third member of the Politburo and secretary of a municipality directly under the central government to be dealt with in this way after Chen Xitong and Chen Liangyu. He was imprisoned in Qincheng Prison. During his time in Chongqing, Bo Xilai, who had a strong tendency to show off, did not wear prison clothes but wore suits in prison and enjoyed calligraphy in prison.
Background
In early 2012, Bo visited the Fourteenth Army Group, which his father had helped found in the late 1930s. The visit was alleged to have violated civil-military non-fraternization policies and was viewed by some as evidence of Bo's political ambitions.
On February 2, 2012, the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party decided to remove Wang Lijun from his posts as Director and Party Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Public Security Bureau. Wang Lijun was appointed as Vice Mayor and put in charge of education and science and technology. At 2:31 PM on February 6, 2012, Wang Lijun entered the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu and stayed there for one day, which is known as the Wang Lijun Incident. At 10:54 AM on February 8, 2012, the Chongqing Municipal Government Information Office released a message via Xinhua News Agency's official Weibo account, stating that "It is understood that Vice Mayor Wang Lijun, due to long-term overwork, high mental stress, and serious physical discomfort, is currently receiving 'vacation-style treatment' with approval." This led to the phrase "vacation-style treatment" becoming a popular internet meme in mainland China, sparking widespread speculation about Wang Lijun's true whereabouts. On August 22, 2013, at a press conference held by the Jinan Intermediate People's Court in Shandong Province regarding the trial of Bo Xilai, a spokesperson for the court announced that this information had been approved for release by Bo Xilai, then Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.
On February 9, 2012, the spokesperson's office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated in response to inquiries that Wang Lijun, Vice Mayor of Chongqing, entered the U.S. Consulate General in Chengdu on February 6 and left after staying for one day. Relevant authorities are investigating this matter. On February 10, 2012, Bo Xilai led a delegation to inspect Yunnan Province, during which he visited the military history exhibition hall of the 14th Group Army, which was founded by his father, Bo Yibo.
On March 9, 2012, Bo Xilai made his first public statement on the Wang Lijun incident at a press conference of the Chongqing Municipal People's Congress delegation. He said he was heartbroken by the Wang Lijun incident and admitted that he had made a mistake in his personnel selection. This was also the last time Bo Xilai made a public appearance before being placed under investigation. On March 14, 2012, Wen Jiabao, then a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo and Premier of the State Council, made an unusually harsh criticism at a press conference of the Two Sessions and demanded that the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the CCP and the Chongqing Municipal Government must deeply reflect on the "Wang Lijun incident" and learn from the lessons. In addition, Wen Jiabao also said that the mistakes of the Cultural Revolution and the influence of feudalism have not been eliminated. Some people believe that Wen Jiabao was criticizing the Cultural Revolution on the surface, but in fact he was criticizing Bo Xilai 's governing philosophy of singing red songs and cracking down on gangs.
On March 15, 2012, the first day after the conclusion of the National People's Congress and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (NPC and CPPCC) sessions, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) announced that "Comrade Bo Xilai will no longer serve as the Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the CCP." He was immediately placed under house arrest and completely disappeared from public view for about a year and a half. Subsequently, Zhang Dejiang, then a member of the Politburo and Vice Premier of the State Council, succeeded Bo Xilai as the Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the CCP, and many policies implemented by Bo Xilai during his tenure in Chongqing were subsequently suspended.
On April 10, 2012, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party officially announced that Bo Xilai had been removed from his positions as a member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and a member of the Politburo, and was to be placed under investigation within the Party.
On September 28, 2012, the Politburo decided to expel Bo Xilai from the Party and remove him from public office, and transferred his suspected crimes and related leads to judicial organs for handling according to law. On October 26, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress announced that the Chongqing Municipal People's Congress Standing Committee had removed Bo Xilai from his position as a deputy to the 11th National People's Congress and transferred him to the judiciary. On November 7, the Seventh Plenary Session of the 17th CCP Central Committee confirmed the expulsion of Bo Xilai from the Party by the Politburo.
On January 9, 2013, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Chinese Communist Party and the Ministry of Supervision of the People's Republic of China held a press conference in Beijing to report on the handling of cases in 2012. Cui Shaopeng, Secretary-General and Spokesperson of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, announced at the conference that the case of Bo Xilai, former Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, had been transferred to judicial organs for processing.
On July 25, 2013, relevant Chinese authorities released the news of Bo Xilai's indictment through Xinhua News Agency. The original text is as follows:The case of Bo Xilai, suspected of bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power, has been prosecuted by the Jinan Municipal People's Procuratorate of Shandong Province to the Jinan Intermediate People's Court, as designated by law. During the review and prosecution stage, the procuratorial organ informed the defendant Bo Xilai of his litigation rights, interrogated him, and listened to the opinions of his defense counsel. The indictment from the Jinan Municipal People's Procuratorate alleges that Bo Xilai, as a state functionary, abused his position to seek benefits for others, illegally accepting a particularly large amount of money and property; embezzled a large amount of public funds; and abused his power, causing significant losses to the interests of the state and the people, with particularly serious circumstances. He should be held criminally liable for bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power, and punished for multiple crimes.At 8:30 a.m. on August 22, 2013, the Fifth Court of the Jinan Intermediate People's Court held a public hearing for the trial of Bo Xilai on charges of bribery, embezzlement, and abuse of power. On the first day of the trial, Bo Xilai denied the prosecutor's charges of bribery and embezzlement.
At 10:00 AM on September 22, 2013, the Jinan Intermediate People's Court sentenced Bo Xilai to life imprisonment for bribery, with deprivation of political rights for life and confiscation of all personal property; to 15 years imprisonment for embezzlement, with confiscation of RMB 1 million of personal property; and to 7 years imprisonment for abuse of power. The court decided to impose a combined sentence of life imprisonment, deprivation of political rights for life, and confiscation of all personal property.
Dismissal of Bo Xilai On February 11, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Chongqing. Compared with Harper's meeting with Wang Yang, Secretary of the Guangdong Provincial Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, in Guangzhou the day before, Chinese official media chose to report on Harper's meeting with Bo Xilai in a relatively low-key manner. This phenomenon attracted the attention of international media, who speculated on Bo Xilai's political future. On February 14, Bo Xilai met with Bai Lewei, Chairman of the China-Britain Business Council, who was visiting Chongqing. On February 16, Chongqing held its annual law enforcement meeting, which was attended by both Bo Xilai and Mayor Huang Qifan.
During the 2012 Two Sessions, Bo Xilai did not travel to Beijing with the Chongqing delegation. During the meeting, he continued to promote Chongqing's governance experience. On the morning of March 3, some media reported that He Guoqiang, who had served as the Secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the CCP and was then a member of the Standing Committee of the Politburo and Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, visited the Chongqing delegation and met with members including Bo Xilai and Huang Qifan. He pointed out that the climate in Chongqing is very different from that in Beijing.
March 9 was the Chongqing delegation's open day. The Chongqing delegation met with reporters for the first time. At the press conference, Bo Xilai also gave his first direct answer to the Wang Lijun incident. In an interview with Luqiu Luwei, a reporter from Hong Kong Phoenix TV, he said that he had never expected Wang Lijun's "departure" and that it was "very sudden." "I am heartbroken by this problem. I feel that I have failed in my personnel management." He should reflect on this. However, he emphasized that the title of "anti-gang hero" was not given by the government, but by the people. The people have the freedom to give titles. The achievements of Chongqing's anti-gang campaign were not solely due to the public security bureau, but were the result of the efforts of the public security, procuratorate, and judicial system. When asked by reporters about his political future, he said that he had not considered the 18th National Congress. On the same day, at the plenary meeting of the Chongqing delegation to the National People's Congress, Bo Xilai said that it was "nonsense" for someone to say that his son, Bo Guagua, drove a "red Ferrari." He also said that the tuition fee for Harvard University came from a "full scholarship."
In March 2012, Zhao Qizheng, spokesperson for the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, described foreign media reports on the Wang Lijun incident as "puzzle-like," "inaccurate, and even absurd," and pointed out that the Wang Lijun incident was an isolated event.