A Murder and A Fall from Grace

 This is the biggest political scandal to hit China in twenty years. Bo Xilai,  a politician who ruled Chongqing as if it were his personal empire and who clearly had ambitions to rise to the very pinnacle of power in China, has been brought down. Not, as is so often the case in political struggles in China, by an expose of corruption, but by allegations that his wife was involved in the murder of a British businessman, Neil Heywood. The plot – for it reads like a novel – has been thickened by the fact that Bo's police chief, Wang Lijun, fled to the American consulate in Chengdu and – according to unconfirmed reports – asked for political asylum (which request was turned down) and gave the Americans two files, one containing details of the death of Neil Heywood and the other details of a power struggle at the heart of the Communist Party. Rumour has swirled around the country for weeks, ever since Bo Xilai was removed from his post as Party Secretary of Chongqing, but it is exceedingly rare for such dirty linen to be aired so very publicly in Beijing, as it has been in the past 24 hours in the state-controlled media here. But one thing is certain, there is a lot we do not know. This scandal is like an iceberg – we have learned 10% (and that 10% is what the leadership wants to let us know) but there is still 90% lurking icily under the surface of the sea. Those who believe China is a stable nation should think again. As the Wall Street Journal put it today: The scandal has ignited Beijing's biggest political crisis since a military crackdown on pro-democracy student protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989. It remains to be seen whether leaders can restore political stability or whether supporters and opponents of Mr. Bo will continue to battle.