Polished 'princeling' establishes his own impressive track record

BO XILAI, Chinese Commerce Minister

The man leading China's delegation to the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong this week is Commerce Minister Bo Xilai, a man praised by Western politicians and communist cadres alike for his skilful diplomacy and polished public performances. But as well as being the most photogenic of China's new generation of leaders he is also a symbol of privilege and political patronage.

Mr Bo belongs to an elite group known as China's 'princelings', the sons and daughters of revolutionary and communist party leaders whose important political and business posts are secured because of their parents' positions. Mr Bo is the youngest son of Long March veteran Bo Yibo, the last surviving member of a group of communist party elders known as the 'Eight Immortals' who exercised enormous political influence from behind the scenes in the 1980s and 1990s.

'Bo Yibo made major concessions to the leadership and promised his support to Deng Xiaoping and Jiang Zemin in return for his son's advancement,' according to City University of Hong Kong political science professor Joseph Cheng.

But the younger Bo's pedigree has at times been much less helpful.

As with many other revolutionary luminaries, the Bo family suffered terribly during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). Bo Xilai was 17 when it began and was reportedly an active member of Liandong, a notoriously brutal Red Guard organisation, before being incarcerated in 1967 along with all his family members. During his five years in prison his mother was beaten to death.