A senior People's Liberation Army senior believed to be closely linked to disgraced former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai made a high-profile appearance in Hainan at the weekend, in what analysts said was probably an attempt to dispel rumours that he had been implicated in the nation's biggest political scandal in two decades.
General Liu Yuan, the political commissar of the PLA's General Logistics Department, showed up with Hainan party secretary Luo Baoming on Saturday at the provincial branch of the Beijing-based PLA General Hospital - commonly known as the No 301 Hospital - according to the Beijing-based Science and Technology Daily.
As a rising military star, Liu, 61, has long been regarded as one of the strongest candidates to succeed General Li Jinai, the chief of the PLA's General Political Department, and thereby become a member of the all-powerful Central Military Commission in a major leadership reshuffle later this year.
However, the downfall of Bo in March gave rise to speculation that Liu's possible promotion was up in the air.
Some overseas reports also suggested that Liu was being investigated by the central government, and other reports said his loyalty to the central government was in question after the Bo scandal.
As descendants of Communist Party revolutionary veterans, Liu and Bo are perceived as 'princelings'.