China Briefing | Frustrated Chinese officials tilt at rumour mills
Senior politicians resort to indirect methods to counter speculation about their careers as the anti-corruption campaign rolls on
While Chinese leaders keep politics under close wraps and maintain a tight grip on domestic media, they often signal or clarify major policy and personnel changes through leaks to overseas media via unofficial channels. The aim is to test not only the international reaction but also the domestic response as the news inevitably trickles back home.
The channels are also used by the various factions within the leadership to smear opponents during times of intense power struggles. In these cases, the officials named in the speculation stay silent.
But the internet has greatly complicated things for the worse as wild and salacious rumours about mainland politicians and their relatives multiply and reverberate online at light speed.
This is particularly true now, with President Xi Jinping's relentless anti-corruption campaign reaching the highest echelons of power - former security tsar Zhou Yongkang , and Ling Jihua , chief of staff to former president Hu Jintao , have been investigated for alleged corruption, along with tens of thousands of other officials.
Speculation is rife in overseas media that more top officials will be investigated and there is an intense guessing game about who will be next.
Given that Xi has condemned and vowed to root out party "cliques" and "factions" for failing to fall in line with the central leadership, many of the rumours centre on officials from the Communist Youth League, Hu's power base, particularly in the aftermath of Ling's downfall.