Some light was shed yesterday on the mystery of just what went on during the hours Chongqing deputy mayor Wang Lijun spent holed up in a US consulate.
A Chongqing government spokesman broke the silence to offer the municipality's version of what happened on February 6 at the consulate in Chengdu. He said Wang left the consulate only after 'earnest and patient persuasion' from three of Chongqing's top officials and an unspecified amount of central government intervention.
A report by China News Service said the unidentified spokesman confirmed that Chongqing Mayor Huang Qifan, Chen Cungen, chairman of the city's People's Congress, and Xu Jingye, the local party disciplinary chief, met Wang in the consulate that day.
'The leaders persuaded Wang Lijun earnestly and patiently, and Wang Lijun said he was willing to leave the consulate,' the spokesman was quoted as saying.
He added that relevant heads of central government departments also sent in representatives to persuade Wang to leave the consulate.
'That night, Wang Lijun walked out of the American consulate in Chengdu voluntarily,' said the spokesman.
Wang had been considered an ally of Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai before the news on February 2 that he had been stripped of his post as police chief. His expedition to the consulate has dominated mainland news in the past month, fuelling all sorts of speculation.