The Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece newspaper People’s Daily on Jan. 9 published a front page article commending the “Chongqing model” of Bo Xilai, which includes neo-Maoist paeans and advocates deep state-involvement in the economy.
The report comes in the context of a much-speculated possible elevation of Bo, Party chief of Chongqing, to the Standing Committee of the Politburo–the small group that stands at the top of the Party hierarchy–during the 18th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which will be held in late 2012, and inaugurate the new supreme leaders of the CCP.
Bo stands at one end of a dichotomy between “reform” and the “status quo” in Chinese politics; Wang Yang, the governor of Guangdong Province, is held up as a representative of a more market-centered approach. In all cases, however, the supremacy of the Communist Party over society, the judiciary, and the media is not in question.
Bo Xilai is the son of Bo Yibo, a Communist Party revolutionary veteran, which makes him a member of the “princeling” faction
Pundits of Chinese politics have assumed that Wang Yang’s inclusion in the next Standing Committee is a sure thing, whereas whether Bo Xilai will be selected is unclear. The People’s Daily article would appear to fuel speculation that he will be admitted, especially given that it associates Bo’s statist policies with the ideological child of Hu Jintao, the “scientific development” concept.
Communist Party officials and media agencies often seek to graft the theoretical contributions of one official to that of another, more established theory, in order to bolster its credibility. Hu Jintao originally posited his “scientific development” as a spin-off from his predecessor Jiang Zemin’s fuzzy “Three Represents.”
It is not as simple as one People’s Daily headline in favor of Bo, however. Up until Jan. 6, Xinhua, the official press agency of the CCP, and pro-communist Hong Kong media, had repeatedly held the banner for Wang Yang, and didn’t mention Bo Xilai for up to a week. Even Chongqing Daily had failed to mention Bo, which is considered unusual.
It is unclear why Party media are changing tones on the Bo and Wang dispute so regularly. Analysts suggest that it’s a manifestation of the political battle before the Communist Party’s 18th congress.
The 18th Congress will be held in the latter half of 2012; the exact date will not be confirmed until a Politburo meeting in late August.
