Bo Xilai looks despondent at the closing ceremony of the National People’s Congress on March 14, 2012.
The two annual sessions of the Communist Party of China (CPC) have been derided as a unique “political vase show”. But the history of the two sessions has also been marked by extraordinary stories, most notably then-Premier Wen Jiabao’s “last question” in response to the Wang Lijun incident at a press conference, and Bo Xilai’s removal from office and detention as a result of the “no return.
The Wang Lijun case broke out just before the 2012 session of the National People’s Congress. Bo Xilai, then a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo and secretary of the Chongqing Municipal Committee, became the focus of the two sessions that year.
On February 6, 2012, Wang Lijun, the former public security chief of Chongqing, fled into the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu, where he was stranded for about a day before meeting with Chinese Communist Party officials and eventually choosing to leave the consulate general and being taken down by authorities. Wang Lijun is believed to have provided the U.S. government with a large number of confidential internal Communist Party documents revealing Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang’s plot to usurp power in a coup.
On the morning of March 8, Bo Xilai was a rare absentee from the opening session of the Communist Party’s National People’s Congress. Sources said Bo quietly returned to Chongqing that day to deal with some “tricky matters. However, Bo’s covert actions were already known to then-CCP General Secretary Hu Jintao.
In the afternoon of the same day, Zhou Yongkang, then member of the Standing Committee of the CPC and secretary of the Political and Legal Committee, attended the Chongqing delegation and strongly supported Bo Xilai and the Chongqing model.
At the Chongqing delegation’s press conference on March 9, Bo Xilai hurried into the meeting after a long wait, and he looked slightly haggard, showing a hint of fatigue.
According to reports, when faced with questions from reporters about his absence from the NPC meeting, Bo Xilai made light of the situation by saying he was “slightly unwell”. Then, Bo faced the Chinese and foreign media, taking advantage of the topic of “singing red and fighting black” to Zhongnanhai to “force the house”.
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When a reporter asked why he didn’t see Hu Jintao go to Chongqing, Bo Xilai said, “We are convinced that the general secretary will go to Chongqing, and he will be happy after seeing it.”
Bo Xilai also threatened that “leaders, including those above and below, must be followed and restrained, rather than acting recklessly.”
During Bo’s Time at the helm in Chongqing, only Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao and Li Keqiang, members of the Politburo Standing Committee, have not been to Chongqing to stand up for Bo Xilai. The rest of the Politburo Standing Committee had gone to Chongqing to express their support for Bo’s “singing of the red and fighting the black”.
Then, Bo’s secretary told him there was an urgent phone call. Bo got up and left. About 5 minutes later, he re-entered the meeting, at this time he changed his attitude, said fiercely, Chongqing to fight the black is to touch the interests of some people, there will be different views and opinions. But the fight against the black will not give an inch to the “bully”.
The company’s words clearly carry the implication of threatening Zhongnanhai, posing a posture of death. A source in Beijing close to the top said that Bo’s “passionate self-justification” has prompted Zhongnanhai to make up its mind to fall on Bo.
The source said: “That day when Bo Xilai was talking, the central government was watching. The other is not important to talk about Wang Lijun, talk about the other. But talk about whoever goes to Chongqing, as well as ‘will go later’ is not appropriate, and was called away by phone. After this call, someone at the top has decided to remove Bo Xilai from office and asked Bo to stay in Beijing to be investigated.”
A number of photos captured by the media at the time show Bo Xilai on the podium at the closing ceremony of the March 14, 2012 NPC meeting, looking forlorn and weary.
On March 14, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao answered questions from reporters at the two sessions of the Chinese and foreign press conferences, his last press conference during his tenure.
The press conference lasted three hours and was attended by nearly 1,000 Chinese and foreign journalists. Li Zhaoxing, the spokesman for the National People’s Congress, who presided over the press conference, whispered several times to ask Wen if he wanted to finish his question and answer session. Wen signaled to wait a little longer.
Until the Wang Lijun incident was asked by reporters, which was also the last question at the press conference. Wen Jiabao responded by saying that the Chongqing leadership must “reflect” on the Wang Lijun scandal and “learn a lesson” from it.
Wen also made it clear that Bo Xilai and his “singing and fighting” campaign in Chongqing, is the “residual poison of the Cultural Revolution“, must be removed.
Finally, Wen Jiabao said: “I seriously did not perfunctorily answer every question of the reporter friends.”
The next day, Bo Xilai was removed from his post, and on April 10, Bo was suspended from his position as a member of the Central Politburo.
According to The Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun, the Politburo Standing Committee met on Feb. 16, 2012, to discuss how to deal with the Wang Lijun “crisis,” particularly the issue of Bo Xilai.
There were eight members of the Politburo Standing Committee in Beijing at the time. Among them, Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, Li Keqiang and He Guoqiang advocated taking down Bo Xilai, but the other four members of the Jiang faction Standing Committee, Wu Bangguo, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun and Zhou Yongkang, opposed it.
Xi Jinping, who was visiting the United States at the time, received a call from the Central Office seeking his opinion. Xi Jinping said he supported Hu Jintao and others’ opinion to hold Bo Xilai accountable and cast a crucial vote to “bring down” Bo.
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