Disgraced ex-official Zhou Yongkang's powerful allies cut ties with him
Groups associated with the former security tsar distance themselves, pledging to oppose cliques that undermine Communist Party's power
Former power bases of disgraced security tsar Zhou Yongkang and his allies have vowed to uphold party unity and oppose the forming of political cliques, even as analysts described alleged collusive acts by Zhou's power network as the "most dangerous form of corruption".
"[We] have to self-consciously safeguard the party's unity. [We] are firmly against nepotism and forging political circles," read the Sichuan provincial party committee's statement after a meeting on Friday afternoon.
The meeting - which came hours before Xinhua announced Zhou had been expelled from the Communist Party for breaching discipline, committing graft and leaking state secrets - was held to convey the party's decision on Zhou to the committee, the official Sichuan Daily reported yesterday.
At the meeting, the committee pledged to right the wrongs that Zhou had wrought on Sichuan's politics and economy. It would learn a hard lesson from Zhou's case, the committee said.
Units across the military have also declared their support for the party's decision, the PLA Daily reported yesterday, highlighting voices from the Chengdu and Jinan military commands, as well as the paramilitary police.
The powerful Jiangsu-born cadre worked in Sichuan from 1999 to 2002, upon which he was made security chief and put in charge of the paramilitary police. He also had connections with the Jinan military region as it was the power base of his former ally, the sacked PLA general Xu Caihou.
Peking University anti-graft expert Zhuang Deshui said the declarations by Zhou's former power bases were an interesting phenomenon in mainland politics. It showed that those still in power were willing to sever all connections with Zhou.