IN 2012 Bo Xilai, the Communist Party leader of Chongqing, a region in the south-west, was stripped of his post, expelled from the party and later jailed. Mr Bo’s downfall cleared the way for Xi Jinping, his rival, to become the country’s leader. On July 15th lightning struck again. Sun Zhengcai, who had succeeded Mr Bo in Chongqing following a brief interregnum, was sacked.
A cloud appeared over Mr Sun in February, when party investigators accused him of failing to clear Mr Bo’s “toxic residue”. Now Mr Sun is said to be under investigation for violating party rules. His offences are unclear, but he might become the first serving member of the ruling Politburo to be booted out of that body since Mr Bo. Mr Sun is the Politburo’s youngest member and had been considered a possible successor to Mr Xi. Not since the 1980s has someone being groomed in this way been so unceremoniously purged.
Earlier expulsions from the Politburo (this would be the fourth in...Continue reading
Source: China http://ift.tt/2titBIp
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