Guo Boxiong included in new year greetings
Former People's Liberation Army No.2, General Guo Boxiong, was among the retired senior officials to receive Lunar New Year greetings from the administration's leaders, state media reported.
Former People's Liberation Army No.2, General Guo Boxiong, was among the retired senior officials to receive Lunar New Year greetings from the administration's leaders, state media reported yesterday.
Guo, 72, who has retired from his post as vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, has been the subject of intense speculation by overseas Chinese gossip outlets in recent weeks, amid the ongoing graft crackdown in the military launched by President Xi Jinping.
Guo's counterpart, General Xu Caihou, is facing military prosecution for bribery in the most high-profile anti-graft case in the PLA's history.
State television reported that Xi and other leaders had extended festival greetings to their predecessors. Besides Guo, several retired CMC vice-chairmen and defence ministers were among those who received the greetings, including Liang Guanglie, Zhang Zhen, Chi Haotian, and Cao Gangchuan.
Also receiving greetings were Xi's predecessors Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, former Politburo Standing Committee members, and other former senior officials such as vice-premier Hui Liangyu and Deng Pufang, son of paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and a deputy head of the national political advisory body.
Xinhua said the retired leaders had approved the achievements of Xi's administration and called on the country to support his reforms and "strict management" of the party.
At the PLA's Spring Festival gala last year, Guo and Xu appeared with Xi on a state television bulletin, despite rumours of looming trouble for Xu. He was detained in March. In the past year 16 senior commanders have come under investigation.
A former close aide of both Guo and Xu, Major General Liu Hongjie, was reported last week to have been detained by graft investigators. Guo's former personal secretary, Major General Liu Zhigang, was officially confirmed last week to have been transferred from the more prominent Beijing Military Area Command to become a deputy commander for Jinan.
Guo's son, Guo Zhenggang, was promoted to deputy political commissar of the Zhejiang military region in January, but some analysts said that did not mean senior Guo was "out of the woods".
