Bo Xilai, embattled Chongqing Communist Party boss, chaired the city's party standing committee meeting on Sunday, urging cadres to make bolder reforms, local television reported last night - suggesting Bo remained fully in charge of the municipality's affairs.
During the meeting, the standing committee said the city had been launching various reforms over the years in accordance with the party's Central Committee and the State Council's directions. It urged local cadres to 'align to the consensus ... in a timely manner' to foster deeper reforms, Chongqing TV reported.
However, the fact that the Sunday meeting was not reported until yesterday's evening news seemed to suggest that reports by local media on Bo (pictured) might be subject to extra review.
Speculation about Bo continued to mount after a picture of him with visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper appeared on the front pages of almost all newspapers in the city yesterday - two days after the meeting and a day after the same newspapers refrained from using Bo's picture in their coverage.
'It is anything but normal for the same event to be reported as [front-page] splashes on two consecutive days,' said Chen Ziming, a Beijing-based political analyst, adding that Chongqing authorities seemed to want to put to rest any questions of why the newspapers did not use Bo's picture on Sunday.
On Sunday, all main newspapers reported on the meeting between Bo and Harper on Saturday evening, but opted to run a photo of Harper and his wife with a panda that will be sent to Canada, or of just the panda itself. A more common photo for such stories in state-run media would have featured Bo and Harper together.