Gotta love Xiaoping's "market socialism" over in China
More proof of the hypocrissy and corruption found throughout the CPC due to their capitalist tendencies
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/china/stor...880577,00.html
Shanghai's Communist party chief sacked in corruption purge
Jonathan Watts in Beijing
Monday September 25, 2006
The Guardian
The Communist party chief of Shanghai has been fired in China's highest level corruption scandal in more than 10 years, state media reported today.
The sacking and criminal investigation of Chen Liangyu signals an escalation of president Hu Jintao's purge of recalcitrant regional leaders and political opponents as he tightens his grip on power ahead of a key party meeting next year.
In recent months, the deputy mayor of Beijing, a chief prosecutor in Tianjin, a senior naval officer and a deputy governor have been arrested on corruption charges.
But the dismissal of Chen - a politburo member and party secretary of the country's commercial capital - is by far the boldest move yet by Mr Hu to crack down on graft and restore discipline.
Chen, who studied briefly at Birmingham University, is the most senior of at least half a dozen politicians and businessmen implicated in the misappropriation of about a third of Shanghai's 10bn yuan (£700m) social security fund.
He is accused of illegal business activity, covering up crimes by his colleagues and abusing his position to secure benefits for members of his family.
"Comrade Chen Liangyu has created malign political effects," said the Xinhua news agency in reporting the decision taken by the politburo yesterday to remove the suspect from all positions of responsibility. "Whoever it is, no matter how high their position, anyone who violates party rules or national law will be severely investigated and punished."
His picture, job description and career record were promptly removed from the Shanghai government website.
Although the Chinese government claims to have been fighting corruption for more than a decade, it is very rare that such a senior figure is held to account. The closest recent case occurred in 1995 when the secretary of the Beijing party, Chen Xitong (no relation), was fired and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
The rivalry between China's two most powerful cities is a factor. Shanghai is the powerbase of Hu's predecessor as president, Jiang Zemin. Under his protection the local party hierarchy was able to keep hold of all of the city's top political posts for 15 years, avoiding the rotation system that applied in every other province.
Partly as a result, critics accused the "Shanghai gang" of running one of the least transparent governments and most tightly controlled media environments in the country. In 2003 there was an outcry when local real estate tycoon Zhou Zhengyi was found guilty of fraud but sentenced only to a short prison term.
The punishment of Chen also appears to be intended as a warning to senior regional officials in other provinces that they cannot ignore the orders of the central government. In recent years Mr Hu and his premier, Wen Jiabao, have had trouble asserting their authority on issues as diverse as environmental protection, land development and industrial safety because local leaders are so focused on making money.
It has also interfered with the state's ability to cool down an economy in danger of overheating. Mr Chen reportedly rebuffed the central leadership when he was ordered to slow the momentum of Shanghai real estate market. In the first eight month's of the year, the city's economy grew 12.4% per cent - fast even by China's runaway standards.
The city's social security scandal may also have been just too big too ignore. In August about 100 central government investigators were dispatched to Shanghai to look into the allegations. Among the other detainees was Wu Minglie, the chairman of the New Huangpu group, one of the city's biggest conglomerates.
Soon after the investigation began, Mr Chen was quoted by local media as saying: "We cannot for a single moment relax our work on opposing corruption and advocating honesty."
His position will temporarily be filled by the mayor of Shanghai, Han Zheng. In the longer term, president Hu is rumoured to want to appoint Liu Yandong - a female party official from Beijing - to the post.
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Gotta love Xiaoping's "market socialism" over in China
More proof of the hypocrissy and corruption found throughout the CPC due to their capitalist tendencies
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Actually I heard they arnt even putting up any pretense of socialism. Apparently one of the Communist Party officials recently addressed the country saying "Comrades, we are now capitalists"Originally posted by Tekun@Sep 25 2006, 11:04 PM
Gotta love Xiaoping's "market socialism" over in China
More proof of the hypocrissy and corruption found throughout the CPC due to their capitalist tendencies
Nah, Hu Jintao still claims they're practicing "socialism with Chinese characteristics".
"Getting a job, finding a mate, having a place to live, finding a creative outlet. Life is a war of attrition. You have to stay active on all fronts. It's one thing after another. I've tried to control a chaotic universe. And it's a losing battle. But I can't let go. I've tried, but I can't." - Harvey Pekar
Workers should rise up and sack all Communist Party chiefs.
Not surprising. There are a lot of others who have yet to be caught. Check out the Shanghai Clique.
I think that his sacking also had a lot to do with politics and the fact that he was a part of the Shanghai faction that Jiang helped to gain power.
I hate Jiang Zemin.
I heard Hu Jintao was a lot more socially oriented and more of a believer in Marxism-Leniniem.
Is that right?
If he were still some sort of "believer", he would've never become General Secretary. It's pretty much impossible to try to maintain doctrinal rigidity in the CPC today.
However, Hu is more focused on socially sustainable development and decreasing the wealth gap. So far there have been a few crackdowns on corruption and some plus benefits for farmers but not much has really happened.
