Some provinces puzzlingly slow over backing for Zhou probe
Questions over puzzling slowness of some jurisdictions to voice public support on the issue
It has been three weeks since the formal announcement of an investigation into retired security tsar Zhou Yongkang but party leaders in some provinces have been puzzlingly slow to publicly declare their support for the decision, according to some analysts.
Qinghai province became the last of the 31 provinces to publicly support the Communist Party's decision to investigate Zhou, and the slowness of some provincial-level committees to agree may signal at least some hesitation within the party on the issue.
"It's not quite normal [to see local governments take days to react]," said Hu Xingdou , a commentator at the Beijing Institute of Technology. "It shows there are still disputes among officials, and not everyone supports [President] Xi [Jinping ] without reservation."
Hunan , Hubei , Yunnan and Beijing were the first to react to the announcement. On the night of July 29, all four conveyed their support from top down. However, none of the party newspapers in the jurisdictions published their decisions immediately. The party newspapers of Hunan and Hubei published support on August 2. Yunnan's paper did so on August 4, and Beijing on August 7.
Shaanxi and Guizhou met to consider the party's decision on July 30, the day after it was announced, and published their support the following day.