BEIJING (dpa): China's political leadership on Friday rejected speculation over a power struggle sparked by the unexplained recent fall of former Chongqing police chief Wang Lijun as “absurd.” The rejection came ahead of next week's annual National People's Congress (NPC). Rumors of a power struggle at the top of the country's Communist Party were “made up by imagination,” said Zhao Qizheng, spokesman for the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body to China's state assembly. “As I know, Wang Lijun is under investigation, and the investigation has been making progress,” Zhao said, without citing the reasons for the probe. “He is a delegate for NPC, he has asked to be absent from the conference,” the spokesman added. But Wang's long-term colleague, Chongqing's influential regional Communist Party secretary, Bo Xilai, is expected to be present at the NPC, which begins Monday. The nation was shocked in February by news that Wang had spent a night inside the nearest US consulate to Chongqing, Chengdu, before reportedly surrendering to State Security officers from Beijing. Mystery still surrounds the motives and whereabouts of the media-acclaimed “super cop,” who led a ruthless crackdown on organized criminals, as well as police and officials who protected them. Bo had been seen as a heavyweight in the Communist Party, and had until recently been tipped to break into its all-powerful, nine-member Standing Committee after the party congress in November. Chinese analysts have speculated that Wang may hold incriminating information on Bo, who he reportedly described as a corrupt “mafia boss.” Others ask whether the move was a coordinated attack on the ambitions of the Politbureau member, ahead of a generational leadership change due later this year. Zhao dismissed partial media reports surrounding events in Chongqing last month as “jigsaw puzzles.” “Because the data is not sufficient, the insufficient part were made up by imagination. Those puzzles are not accurate, even absurd,” the spokesman added. “The Wang Lijun incident is an isolated incident, I suggest you not to imagine too much,” Zhao said. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/ApD7Y Tags: China, Politbureau, Power struggle Section: Asia, Crime, Latest News
