https://www.scmp.com/rss/23781/feed Chinese Communist "princeling" Bo Xilai, expected by many to take a key leadership position in the leadership transition of 2012, was expelled from the Communist Party in September after a career that saw him as Mayor of Dalian City, Minister of Commerce and Party Chief of the Chongqing municipality. His wife Gu Kailai received a suspended death sentence in August 2012 for murdering British business partner Neil Heywood. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com The “two sessions”, the annual meetings of China’s top legislative and political advisory bodies, concluded on Monday without the much-anticipated press conference hosted by the country’s premier, discontinuing a customary practice that was established in the early 1990s. According to the official explanation, the press conference at the close of this year’s National People’s Congress (NPC) was cancelled because there was already sufficient information from lawmakers, ministers and policy... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3254965/why-i-miss-chinese-premiers-annual-press-conference-close-countrys-two-sessions?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3254965/why-i-miss-chinese-premiers-annual-press-conference-close-countrys-two-sessions?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Mar 2024 23:00:14 +0000 What is Mofcom? China’s Ministry of Commerce (Mofcom) was established in March 2003 as part of an all-around institutional reorganisation conducted by the State Council, the country’s top administrative body. Forming the ministry was a move to help meeting commitments China made when joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 2001 to match similar government structures in the United States and Europe. Mofcom was largely based on the former Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3147265/chinas-ministry-commerce-what-mofcom-and-what-it-responsible?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3147265/chinas-ministry-commerce-what-mofcom-and-what-it-responsible?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Sep 2021 12:00:20 +0000 A Chinese city boss has been sacked after slapping a subordinate in the face in public, according to state media. Zhang Zhanwei, the Communist Party chief of Jiyuan city in Henan province, was fired on Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. The report did not say why Zhang was dismissed but it said Shang Xiaojuan, wife of Zhai Weidong, the secretary general of Jiyuan city government, filed a complaint last Saturday in which she said Zhang publicly humiliated her husband... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3118915/chinese-city-boss-fired-after-slapping-subordinate-public?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3118915/chinese-city-boss-fired-after-slapping-subordinate-public?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Jan 2021 14:28:15 +0000 The daughter-in-law of China’s disgraced security tsar Zhou Yongkang has appealed publicly to President Xi Jinping for leniency and to be allowed to return to the United States. Huang Wan, who migrated to the US when she was 15, also faces eviction from her home in Beijing after a district court ordered her to leave before Thursday. “Although I am an American citizen, I face restrictions [in China] that I cannot leave the country and I have nowhere to turn to for help,” Huang, 49, wrote in an... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3115745/let-us-go-home-us-relative-corrupt-china-security-chief-pleads?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3115745/let-us-go-home-us-relative-corrupt-china-security-chief-pleads?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Dec 2020 14:36:57 +0000 What do the closure of the US consulate in Chengdu and an attempted defection to the same American mission by a senior Chinese official eight years ago have in common? Aside from the involvement of the only US diplomatic representation in China’s vast western region in two landmark moments in China-US relations, it can be argued that both events have also marked a turning point in Chinese history. The shutdown of the Chengdu consulate, together with the closing of the Chinese consulate in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3095125/us-consulate-chengdu-centre-two-key-moments-chinas-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3095125/us-consulate-chengdu-centre-two-key-moments-chinas-history?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jul 2020 06:14:44 +0000 Thousands of people gathered outside the US consulate in Chengdu on Saturday as workers inside packed up and prepared to leave – on the orders of Beijing. Against a heavy police and security presence, three trucks and a bus were seen entering and leaving the compound, while a number of workers headed out on foot, their arms filled with assorted boxes and files. Others left the compound on heavily laden scooters, while cleaners disposed of large black bin bags – presumably full of non-sensitive... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3094693/us-china-relations-thousands-gather-see-closure-chengdu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3094693/us-china-relations-thousands-gather-see-closure-chengdu?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 25 Jul 2020 10:00:09 +0000 China and the United States continued to toughen their actions against each other on Thursday with Beijing preparing to close a US consulate in retaliation for the forced closure of the Chinese diplomatic facility in Houston. A source briefed on the matter said the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu would be the target for China’s retaliation. Officials from the two sides traded barbs over the Houston closure order ahead of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivering a speech on... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3094336/us-consulate-chengdu-prime-target-china-retaliation-over?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3094336/us-consulate-chengdu-prime-target-china-retaliation-over?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 23 Jul 2020 03:52:53 +0000 A Belizean citizen facing prosecution in mainland China for his alleged role in fuelling unrest in Hong Kong was linked to the case of disgraced politician Bo Xilai via a Shanghai-based company, according to media reports. Guangzhou city’s state security department said last week it had completed its investigation into Lee Henley Hu Xiang, who was arrested in late November. A brief report in local official media accused Lee of “providing a large amount of funds to hostile elements in the United... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3081791/belize-businessman-accused-fuelling-hong-kong-unrest-had-links?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3081791/belize-businessman-accused-fuelling-hong-kong-unrest-had-links?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 28 Apr 2020 04:00:16 +0000 As night begins to fall, crowds gather near the top of Hongya Cave, a group of stilted buildings overlooking the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, both of which pass through the city of Chongqing in the west of China. They take jammed lifts down to the ground floor and walk across the street, holding up their mobile phones to capture the architecture, glittering at night, before posting on the popular short video mobile app, TikTok. TikTok helped turn the mountainous city of 30 million residents into... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/2182633/chinas-industrial-heartland-painful-economic-transition-full?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/2182633/chinas-industrial-heartland-painful-economic-transition-full?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 18 Jan 2019 05:15:45 +0000 It looks like being a particularly grim Lunar New Year in the “tigers’ cage” this week. The notorious Qincheng maximum security prison houses many disgraced senior Communist Party officials – including fallen security chief Zhou Yongkang, former Chongqing boss Bo Xilai, ex-presidential aide Ling Jihua and Guo Boxiong, who was once a top general.  Normally, some of those prisoners who are aged over 60 can look forward to a Lunar New Year meal with a few family members, but a source close to the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2133251/xi-jinpings-anti-graft-drive-has-caught-so-many?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2133251/xi-jinpings-anti-graft-drive-has-caught-so-many?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 14 Feb 2018 07:00:00 +0000 A former aide to the family of disgraced Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai, who helped Bo’s wife in the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood, has been released from jail much earlier than expected, a source close the Bo family said. The poisoning of the Briton in late 2011 set off a chain of events that eventually led to China’s biggest political scandal in decades, ending with the imprisonment of Bo, who had been a rival to President Xi Jinping in the lead-up to the leadership transition in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2129724/former-bo-xilai-family-aide-jailed-over-murder-uk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2129724/former-bo-xilai-family-aide-jailed-over-murder-uk?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 20 Jan 2018 12:00:00 +0000 The Chinese city of Dalian has yet to rid itself of the “poisonous” legacy left by its disgraced former leader Bo Xilai – the once rising star of the Communist Party now serving a life sentence for corruption – almost two decades after his departure, according to a provincial graft watchdog. Bo served as mayor of Dalian, a major city and seaport in northeastern China’s Liaoning province, from 1993 to 2000, and as its party chief from 1999 to 2000. Between 2001 and 2004, he served as governor of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2124048/chinese-city-dalian-still-poisoned-bo-xilais-legacy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2124048/chinese-city-dalian-still-poisoned-bo-xilais-legacy?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Dec 2017 14:45:00 +0000 Chongqing party chief Sun Zhengcai’s sudden fall from grace has followed a familiar pattern in modern Chinese politics, evoking memories of three of his peers who suffered a similar fate in recent decades. His predecessor Bo Xilai five years ago, former Beijing party boss Chen Xitong in 1995 and ex-Shanghai party boss Chen Liangyu in 2006 were all jailed on bribery charges, embezzlement and abuse of power while also being accused of political wrongdoings. Is Xi’s new ‘core’ status a sign of... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2114307/when-we-say-new-order-chinese-communist-party-what-exactly-are-we?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/opinion/article/2114307/when-we-say-new-order-chinese-communist-party-what-exactly-are-we?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 Oct 2017 03:32:04 +0000 Chongqing has appointed a new police chief, filling a hot seat in the Chinese megacity that over the past five years has been inextricably linked to the demise of not one but two of its former party bosses. Deng Huilin, 51, former deputy police chief of Hubei province and an ex-general office director at the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, will take up the job, the Jiulongpo district government said in a statement released on Friday. Ex-Chongqing Communist Party boss under... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2104589/can-chongqings-new-police-chief-break-curse-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2104589/can-chongqings-new-police-chief-break-curse-chinese?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Jul 2017 08:34:31 +0000 It does not take much to find people who still talk in reverential terms about Bo Xilai, Chongqing’s incarcerated and disgraced former Communist Party head who was removed from office more than five years ago. By contrast, it is difficult to find anyone who has similar regard for Sun Zhengcai, who lost the same party job earlier this month after he was accused by Beijing of failing to rid the city of Bo’s influence and legacy. People in this metropolis of 30 million remember Bo fondly as a... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2104202/praise-bo-xilai-chongqing-city-faces-fresh-graft-probe?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2104202/praise-bo-xilai-chongqing-city-faces-fresh-graft-probe?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 26 Jul 2017 08:44:08 +0000 The investigation into Sun Zhengcai, the departing party boss of Chongqing who was once considered a front runner in the race for China’s next generation of leadership, inevitably reminds one of the dramatic downfall of one of his predecessors in the hillside metropolis five years ago. Bo Xilai, who had ruled Chongqing since 2007, was dismissed from the post in March 2012. A month later, the high-flying and flamboyant politician who had his eyes set on high office was announced to be detained... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2103007/curse-chongqing-probe-sun-zhengcai-evokes-memories-bo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2103007/curse-chongqing-probe-sun-zhengcai-evokes-memories-bo?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Jul 2017 06:30:45 +0000 Five years after the dramatic downfall of Chongqing’s former party chief, Bo Xilai, the city still has yet to rid itself of his “pernicious legacy”, the Communist Party’s top graft watchdog said. The spectacular fall from grace of Bo, a rival to President Xi Jinping in the lead-up to the last leadership transition, was China’s biggest political scandal in decades. Bo, along with other fallen “tigers” including former security tsar Zhou Yongkang, former Central Military Commission vice-chairmen... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2070741/chongqing-still-grappling-pernicious-legacy-bo-xilai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2070741/chongqing-still-grappling-pernicious-legacy-bo-xilai?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Feb 2017 08:00:45 +0000 For 15 years, Huang Qifan stood at or near the helm of Chongqing’s government, helping steer the megacity through the rapids of economic growth. The agile technocrat was also a political survivor, riding out one of the country’s biggest political scandals in decades to be tipped for even higher office in the central government. But that all changed yesterday with state media confirming a South China Morning Post report that Huang, 64, had stepped down as the municipality’s mayor. Sources told... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2058194/mayor-who-survived-bo-xilai-scandal-and-oversaw?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2058194/mayor-who-survived-bo-xilai-scandal-and-oversaw?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Dec 2016 07:54:52 +0000 A survivor of political storms in Chongqing and Shanxi has been appointed the deputy Communist Party chief of China’s affluent eastern province of Jiangsu as well as the top party official of its capital, Nanjing. The appointment of Wu Zheng­long, 52, the outgoing party secretary of the Shanxi provincial capital Taiyuan, to Jiangsu was reported by Nanjing Daily Wednesday afternoon, confirming a South China Morning Post report. A source in Shanxi said Wu’s move would pave the way for the rest of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2027350/promotion-cards-political-survivor-who-worked-disgraced?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/2027350/promotion-cards-political-survivor-who-worked-disgraced?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Oct 2016 06:30:45 +0000 Photographs have been published on social media claiming to show life inside the jail where the wife of the disgraced top Chinese leader Bo Xilai is serving a life sentence for murder. Chinese prison denies shutting outdoor recreation area after wife of disgraced official Bo Xilai moved into the jail The pictures posted on WeChat are said to be of Yancheng prison in Hebei province where Bo’s wife Gu Kailai is incarcerated. Yancheng is among jails in China dubbed by the media “luxury prisons”... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1939947/revealed-photos-claim-show-life-inside-chinas-luxury-prison?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/1939947/revealed-photos-claim-show-life-inside-chinas-luxury-prison?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Apr 2016 04:15:45 +0000 The southwest boomtown of Chongqing (重慶) might have put the disgrace of its former Communist Party chief behind it with President Xi Jinping (習近平) making the city the focus of his first ­domestic trip this year. The trip is also expected to focus attention on Chongqing’s status as an important driver of economic growth. In the first visit to the city by a president in more than eight years, Xi toured Guoyuan Port on Monday afternoon and was briefed on shipping and rail transport, according to... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1898214/chongqing-comes-cold-visit-xi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1898214/chongqing-comes-cold-visit-xi?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Jan 2016 14:30:45 +0000 China took the rare step on Monday of announcing that the suspended death sentences handed down to two high-profile figures had been reduced to life in prison. Commuting such sentences is a routine practice, but highlighting it is unusual. In Beijing, the high court on Monday said that Gu Kailai, the wife of disgraced former Politburo member Bo Xilai, had her suspended death penalty reduced to a life sentence following good behaviour. She was found guilty in 2012 of murdering a British... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1891227/chinese-court-commutes-death-sentencefor-bo-xilais-wife?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1891227/chinese-court-commutes-death-sentencefor-bo-xilais-wife?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Dec 2015 15:45:30 +0000 A former high-flying Dalian tycoon associated with disgraced princeling Bo Xilai reportedly died of a heart attack in a Hubei prison on Friday, roughly nine months before he was due to be released, mainland media reported yesterday. Xu Ming, 44, founded Dalian Shide – a conglomerate that ranged from construction materials to insurance, real estate and soccer – in 1992 and was one of the mainland’s youngest billionaires. He was jailed for four years in late 2012 for offering Bo and his family... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1887879/jailed-chinese-tycoon-and-ally-disgraced-princeling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1887879/jailed-chinese-tycoon-and-ally-disgraced-princeling?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Dec 2015 14:15:00 +0000 Bo Guagua, the younger son of disgraced former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai, has made his first public appearance since his disgraced father was jailed for life two years ago. The third-year student at Columbia Law School, in New York, attended a book signing event in the city on Tuesday, the Voice of America reported. He bought a copy of The China Challenge: Shaping the Choices of a Rising Power by Thomas J. Christensen, former US deputy assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1878106/bo-guagua-son-jailed-chinese-official-bo-xilai-appears?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/policies-politics/article/1878106/bo-guagua-son-jailed-chinese-official-bo-xilai-appears?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Nov 2015 03:00:15 +0000 China's environmental protection ministry has officially overruled a controversial dam project in a critical national fish reserve on the Yangtze River, widely seen as a pet project of disgraced former Chongqing party chief Bo Xilai. The ministry issued a document on March 30, seen by the South China Morning Post yesterday, barring construction of any dam or sluice gate in the mainstream or tributaries of the Yangtze River between Xiangjiaba Dam, on the Sichuan and Yunnan border, and the Three... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1761292/chinese-government-axes-jailed-party-chief-bo-xilais-yangtze-dam-project?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1761292/chinese-government-axes-jailed-party-chief-bo-xilais-yangtze-dam-project?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 08 Apr 2015 21:15:15 +0000 The Supreme People's Court has for the first time accused disgraced top cadres Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai and others of engaging in political activities "not approved" by the Communist Party. The claim was made in the court's annual work report published on Wednesday in a section on the need to strengthen education on obeying discipline and avoiding corruption in the judicial system. The report said that court staff should "clearly recognise the serious damage" caused by Zhou, Bo and others, who... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1741522/supreme-court-report-takes-aim-zhou-and-bo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1741522/supreme-court-report-takes-aim-zhou-and-bo?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 18 Mar 2015 17:00:45 +0000 A Communist Party chief in eastern China under investigation for alleged corruption has close links to the jailed former government leader Bo Xilai, according to a magazine report. Wang Min, 58, the party chief in Jinan in Shandong province was detained in December for violations of party discipline and law, the form of words often used by the authorities to describe graft. Wang has known Bo for years and arranged for his family to stay at a four-star hotel in Jinan during the former Chongqing... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1700301/communist-party-official-corruption-probe-had-ties-bo-xilai-magazine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1700301/communist-party-official-corruption-probe-had-ties-bo-xilai-magazine?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 03 Feb 2015 06:45:15 +0000 For sale: French villa with views of the Mediterranean, five bedrooms, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, and featured in the high-profile trial of jailed former Politburo member Bo Xilai. Asking price: €6.95 million (about HK$66 million). The luxurious Cannes home that was at the centre of the country's biggest trial in decades - and which a mainland court has promised to confiscate - has gone on the market, the Global Times reported yesterday. The 400 square metre villa sits on a hillside in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1667708/luxury-french-villa-jailed-chinese-politician-bo-xilai-sale-hk66-million?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1667708/luxury-french-villa-jailed-chinese-politician-bo-xilai-sale-hk66-million?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 22 Dec 2014 04:00:00 +0000 At least four Chongqing police officers will stand trial later this month on accusations of torturing interrogation suspects during the anti-triad crackdown of Bo Xilai’s former right-hand man. Their cases will be heard at two courts in the municipality, according to an unnamed police source who spoke to the Southern Weekly. The triad crackdown, launched by then-city party chief Bo, was enforced by former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun, who later turned against his boss and sparked the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1496733/four-chongqing-policemen-face-trial-alleged-torture-under-bo-xilais-crime?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1496733/four-chongqing-policemen-face-trial-alleged-torture-under-bo-xilais-crime?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Apr 2014 08:15:45 +0000 Outspoken personalities from all walks of life dominated the pages of the South China Morning Post during 2013. There was the former American spy agency contractor turned whistle-blower who broke cover in Hong Kong, sparking a global fallout over US government spying; and the Chinese princeling whose public trial for corruption and abuse of power riveted the nation. At home, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying saw his approval ratings slide to record lows - as he learned the skill of ducking from... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1392040/2013-year-talking-dangerously?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1392040/2013-year-talking-dangerously?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Dec 2013 21:15:00 +0000 A woman central to the downfall of former Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Bo Xilai has returned to the public spotlight by interviewing the Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf. Jiang Feng Dolby, a former Chinese national television anchor, hosted The Nobel Files, a documentary filmed in Sweden about the Nobel Prize in Literature, which included an interview with members of the selecting committee and the Swedish monarch. The show began to circulate widely on Thursday, after Southern Weekly,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1379075/bo-xilai-associate-jiang-feng-dolby-resurfaces-tv-documentary?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1379075/bo-xilai-associate-jiang-feng-dolby-resurfaces-tv-documentary?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 12 Dec 2013 10:00:30 +0000 Billionaire Wang Jianlin had a heated dispute with fallen politician Bo Xilai over bonuses for football players, with Bo telling Wang: “when I give you an inch, don’t try taking a mile”, according to mainland magazine Blog Weekly (Boke Tianxia). Wang, 59, was China’s richest man until this week when internet mogul Robin Li took the title. Known for his audacious investment, his entertainment conglomerate Wanda recently invested as much as 50 billion yuan (HK$63.03 billion) to build the world’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1374412/revealed-heated-dispute-between-bo-xilai-and-billionaire-wang-jianlin?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1374412/revealed-heated-dispute-between-bo-xilai-and-billionaire-wang-jianlin?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 Dec 2013 04:56:05 +0000 A political party formed by followers of ousted politician Bo Xilai does not appear to be a threat to China’s Communist rulers in itself, but is another example of a growing number of citizens speaking up for their rights and the rule of law. Several well-known supporters of Bo have distanced themselves from the China Zhi Xian Party - litreally “the constitution is the supreme authority” party. Its formation last week challenges the long-ruling Communist Party’s ban on other parties, but Zhi... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1354182/pro-bo-xilai-party-not-seen-threat-china-demand-rights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1354182/pro-bo-xilai-party-not-seen-threat-china-demand-rights?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Nov 2013 03:12:42 +0000 Supporters of disgraced senior politician Bo Xilai, have set up a political party in a direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party's de facto ban on new political groups. The Zhi Xian Party, meaning "the constitution is the supreme authority" party, was formed on Wednesday, just three days before the third plenum. It named Bo, who has been jailed for corruption, as "chairman for life", said Wang Zheng, one of the party's founders and an associate professor of international trade at the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1351719/bo-xilai-supporters-set-new-political-party-despite-ban?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1351719/bo-xilai-supporters-set-new-political-party-despite-ban?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Nov 2013 10:27:53 +0000 The former wife of Bo Xilai has made peace with the disgraced politician but is still at odds with his second wife, Gu Kailai. Commenting for the first time since Bo’s trial last month, Li Danyu said she wished her ex-husband a “peaceful life in his later years”, according to friends of the family who met her recently. Li made her comments before Bo’s appeal against his life sentence for charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power was rejected yesterday, the sources said. None of Bo’s... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1340185/i-hope-bo-xilai-has-peaceful-life-says-first-wife-li-danyu?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1340185/i-hope-bo-xilai-has-peaceful-life-says-first-wife-li-danyu?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Oct 2013 19:45:15 +0000 Fallen politician Bo Xilai put on a final act of defiance yesterday after a high court in Shandong rejected his appeal against his life sentence, declaring "I am not guilty" at the final hearing of China's most explosive political case in decades. Bo, handcuffed and wearing a blue jacket for his last public appearance before going to jail, constantly interrupted the judge's reading of the ruling during the 40-minute session, according to two court witnesses. "This is a false ... wrongful case,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1339516/court-rejects-bo-xilais-appeal-and-upholds-life-sentence?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1339516/court-rejects-bo-xilais-appeal-and-upholds-life-sentence?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Oct 2013 04:30:45 +0000 A Chinese court on Friday rejected  fallen politician Bo Xilai’s appeal against his conviction and confirmed his  life sentence, state media reported, a ruling likely to seal his fate as authorities look to close a damaging scandal. Review our live coverage of the trial proceedings earlier today below or read this concise summary. 11.39am: The Shandong High People's Court releases the verdict on its website: Bo claimed he has written his earlier testimony under duress. He said he was not... https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1338857/live-blog-bo-xilai-leaves-court-life-imprisonment-elite-prison?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1338857/live-blog-bo-xilai-leaves-court-life-imprisonment-elite-prison?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 25 Oct 2013 00:30:30 +0000 Jinan is famous for its Baotu Spring, which still runs as strongly as it has done for 1,000 years. Compared with nature’s timescales, the rise and fall of an individual is nothing, but can nevertheless stir deep feelings and divergent opinions. The ups and downs, rights and wrongs, settling of scores and resentment hold an abiding interest, as if an invisible hand of fate is directing lives and controlling destinies.   All-out to defend himself The courtroom was about 200 square metres in size,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1338120/full-standing-eye-eye-bo-xilai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1338120/full-standing-eye-eye-bo-xilai?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Oct 2013 12:12:53 +0000 Disgraced politician Bo Xilai will make a court appearance on Friday to hear the outcome of his appeal against his conviction on three charges and sentence to life imprisonment last month, according to sources. "Bo is preparing to make a statement in court, but the authorities may not allow him to do that," said one of the two sources, who did not want to be named. "He is in good health and mental condition at Qincheng prison." The Shandong Provincial Higher People's Court said on its website... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1336611/bo-xilai-prepares-his-last-stand-against-life-verdict?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1336611/bo-xilai-prepares-his-last-stand-against-life-verdict?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 Oct 2013 09:59:35 +0000 As disgraced Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai appeals his lifelong jail sentence, the city he ruled for five years is still struggling with the dubious legacy of his anti-crime campaigns. Xu Mingxuan, a legal practitioner who has long criticised Bo’s legacy, called on Chongqing’s municipal government to bring justice for those prosecuted during Bo’s publicised “dahei”, or “fight organised crime”, campaign in a commentary for the Beijing News on Sunday. More than 3,300 people have been detained... https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1331377/justice-sought-those-prosecuted-during-bo-xilais-organised-crime?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1331377/justice-sought-those-prosecuted-during-bo-xilais-organised-crime?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 Oct 2013 04:20:23 +0000 A Shandong court said yesterday it would hear an appeal by fallen former Politburo member Bo Xilai , who was convicted of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power last month and jailed for life. Bo had "refused to accept the decision" at his trial and submitted an appeal to the Shandong Higher People's Court, it said in a statement on its website. "This court, upon investigation, decided in accordance with the law to accept," it said. Previous reports said Bo had appealed "on the day the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1328158/shandong-court-agrees-hear-bo-xilai-appeal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1328158/shandong-court-agrees-hear-bo-xilai-appeal?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Former Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai has appealed against a life sentence on corruption charges, the Shandong High People's Court said in a statement on Wednesday.  The Jinan Intermediate People's Court in the Shandong provincial capital found Bo, 64, guilty on charges of embezzlement, bribery and abuse of power. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on September 22. The announcement confirmed earlier reports by the South China Morning Post from sources close to Bo's family indicating that... https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1327896/bo-xilai-appeal-against-life-sentence-accepted-chinese-court?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1327896/bo-xilai-appeal-against-life-sentence-accepted-chinese-court?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Oct 2013 07:21:15 +0000 Bo Guagua, the younger son of disgraced Politburo member Bo Xilai , has sent a rare written reply to a mainland magazine days after details of his flamboyant lifestyle were exposed during the closely watched trial of his father. In written replies to Guangzhou-based Southern Metropolis Weekly on September 1, five days after the closure of his father's trial, the younger Bo wrote: "Facts will speak for themselves, either now or in the future." "I won't argue for the short-term advantages [or... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1327490/bo-guagua-facts-will-speak-themselves?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1327490/bo-guagua-facts-will-speak-themselves?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Oct 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Will Bo Xilai's appeal against his recent criminal conviction and life sentence make another contribution to the legal education of the Chinese people? Bo's trial offered hundreds of millions of his countrymen their first vivid glimpse of how an accused criminal might actively defend himself in court, instead of meekly complying with the usual ritual of confession and apology in an effort to obtain a lenient sentence. Although the legal systems of all countries often treat compliant defendants... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1321411/chinas-leaders-bo-xilai-problem-has-not-gone-away?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1321411/chinas-leaders-bo-xilai-problem-has-not-gone-away?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 One cannot open a Chinese newspaper these days without seeing a story about corrupt officials being hauled up. Is it, then, the beginning of the cleansing process promised by President Xi Jinping ? It sure is. China's new leadership is speeding up efforts to crack down on corruption, the most prominent example being the recent life sentence for Bo Xilai. But chances are that corruption will continue unless China first undertakes key reforms to reduce private benefits from corruption and increase... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1319245/after-bo-xilai-corruption-usual?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1319245/after-bo-xilai-corruption-usual?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The sentencing of Bo Xilai to life imprisonment should come as no surprise. It confirms the Communist Party under Xi Jinping remains a consultative Leninist system characterised by governance through collective leadership, an obsessive focus on maintaining party unity and the careful management of public opinion. Regardless of the crimes Bo may have committed, the dramatic defiance he displayed throughout the court proceedings rendered only one outcome possible: Bo would spend the rest of his... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1317060/china-justice-serves-cause-party-politics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1317060/china-justice-serves-cause-party-politics?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 24 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Former Politburo member Bo Xilai will likely enjoy relatively luxurious treatment at a prison where many former political elites are serving time, but he might also run into the former aide who triggered his downfall. The Jinan Intermediate People's Court, where Bo was tried, did not announce where he would be serving the life sentenced handed to him on Sunday, but many believe it is the Soviet-style Qincheng Prison on the outskirts of Beijing. The prison, administered by the Ministry of Public... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1316317/creature-comforts-inside-prison-corrupt-officials?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1316317/creature-comforts-inside-prison-corrupt-officials?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Bo Xilai has been tried, found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. That, in the normal order of things, should be the end of the matter. Barring profound change in the political habits of the Communist Party in dealing with those once in power who are felled, Bo will spend the rest of his life silenced. Maybe in the future, the world will be rewarded with his own words smuggled out as they were for Zhao Ziyang , giving his full, final account of what happened. But his ability to directly... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1316103/after-bo-chinas-political-dysfunction-just-opaque?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1316103/after-bo-chinas-political-dysfunction-just-opaque?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Bo Xilai decided to appeal hours after a court sentenced him to life in jail for corruption, two separate sources with direct knowledge of the case said. The fallen princeling erupted in anger when the Jinan Intermediate People's Court in Shandong found him guilty of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power on Sunday. He yelled that the court decision was not fair and was not based on facts, another witness told the South China Morning Post on Sunday. The two sources said the 64-year-old... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1316239/bo-xilai-appeal-life-sentence-corruption-sources?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1316239/bo-xilai-appeal-life-sentence-corruption-sources?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Sep 2013 13:38:43 +0000 The life sentence for Bo Xilai marks the end of a compelling drama - but both his admirers and his critics felt the case failed to tell the whole story. Huang Chengcheng, a Chongqing native who criticised Bo's brutal campaign against crime gangs, said Bo deserved his sentence. But Huang saw it as a political decision, rather than the result of a fair trial, and said prosecutors limited the charges they brought to manage the political risk. "There was no mention of so many people who have been... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1315387/bo-xilai-case-critics-and-fans-united-scepticism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1315387/bo-xilai-case-critics-and-fans-united-scepticism?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000