Why is Zhou Yongkang under investigation?
I don't mean the so called bribery thing. Vitually no one single official in China is clean handed. I wonder
1. who helped him rising to the top?
2. how did he lose favor of the current big brothers?
1. who helped him rising to the top?
2. how did he lose favor of the current big brothers?
9 Answers
Zeming Liu, A Chinese who generally suppor... (more) A Chinese who generally supports CCP but also criticizes it frequently71 upvotes by Adam Leigh, Cyrus Cheung, Pan Shi, (more)Loading...
1. Rumors says that he has strong connections with Jiang Zemin who is believed to have helped Zhou to rise to the top. I agree with that. Despite Zhou is not from Shanghai so that he can not be called as a member of Shanghai gang accurately, he is still considered as an important pro-Jiang figure who helped Jiang controlled the legal system and the police system to help Jiang restrain Hu Jintao's power.
2. The reason why Zhou lost the support is complex and can be divided into points below.
(1) Zhou Yongkang is the major companion of Bo Xilai who planned to take over Xi. After Bo was investigated, Zhou soon became the next target of Xi's anti-corruption campaign.
(2) As I have mentioned, Zhou Yongkang has close relationship with Jiang Zemin. It is widely believed that Jiang's gang is a big barrier of Chinese reform with many of its members related to corruption. Investigating Zhou means hitting Jiang's gang as well as Jiang himself.
(3) Called as "the big tiger" , Zhou is a big embezzler. He used to be the president of the China National Petroleum Corp and have great influence in CNPC. Together with his relatives, he has corrupted a great deal of money. Maybe his gang is the biggest corruption group ever in PRC.
(4)As the secretary of the politics and law committee, he has done great damage to legal society and democracy in China. He has manipulated courts and police to achieve personal benefits. For example, he has tolerated tycoon Liu Han to do crime, who helped Zhou's corruption. Meanwhile, he has been always against reform and depressing civil liberty. It is essential for Xi to kick him out and give an impetus to the reform.
2. The reason why Zhou lost the support is complex and can be divided into points below.
(1) Zhou Yongkang is the major companion of Bo Xilai who planned to take over Xi. After Bo was investigated, Zhou soon became the next target of Xi's anti-corruption campaign.
(2) As I have mentioned, Zhou Yongkang has close relationship with Jiang Zemin. It is widely believed that Jiang's gang is a big barrier of Chinese reform with many of its members related to corruption. Investigating Zhou means hitting Jiang's gang as well as Jiang himself.
(3) Called as "the big tiger" , Zhou is a big embezzler. He used to be the president of the China National Petroleum Corp and have great influence in CNPC. Together with his relatives, he has corrupted a great deal of money. Maybe his gang is the biggest corruption group ever in PRC.
(4)As the secretary of the politics and law committee, he has done great damage to legal society and democracy in China. He has manipulated courts and police to achieve personal benefits. For example, he has tolerated tycoon Liu Han to do crime, who helped Zhou's corruption. Meanwhile, he has been always against reform and depressing civil liberty. It is essential for Xi to kick him out and give an impetus to the reform.
Agree with most of these answers -- the key is in the relationships between Jiang Zemin and his cohort to the rest of the party.
Since stepping down as General Secretary (formerly the Chairman position), Jiang Zemin had been seen as a puppeteer within the party, pulling strings behind the scenes via the people he helped get to the top: Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, et al.
Around 2010, as Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao were preparing to transition out, the party was set to be torn apart internally, the tensions had grown so high around the questions of who would be Premier, appointed to the Central Committee, and so on. Jiang Zemin wanted his guys holding the keys to the kingdom. Hu and others within the party wanted Jiang's influence reduced.
Once Xi was finally chosen as General Secretary, the Party consolidated around him and, simultaneously, corruption was chosen as the way to go about eradicating the party of its factions. A few years later and here we are with multiple once-powerful officials booted from the CPC, in prison or elsewhere, on charges of which nearly any public official in China could be found guilty (most obviously Wen Jiabao) were they on the wrong side of the party.
The key point in all of this is that cracking down on corruption was a means of survival for the party. Not survival from a popular discontent, overthrow the government kind of threat, but rather from the party itself. Brilliant move for such an organization, and one that I can't imagine ever happening strategically in American politics, legal formality and the rest aside.
Since stepping down as General Secretary (formerly the Chairman position), Jiang Zemin had been seen as a puppeteer within the party, pulling strings behind the scenes via the people he helped get to the top: Zhou Yongkang, Bo Xilai, et al.
Around 2010, as Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao were preparing to transition out, the party was set to be torn apart internally, the tensions had grown so high around the questions of who would be Premier, appointed to the Central Committee, and so on. Jiang Zemin wanted his guys holding the keys to the kingdom. Hu and others within the party wanted Jiang's influence reduced.
Once Xi was finally chosen as General Secretary, the Party consolidated around him and, simultaneously, corruption was chosen as the way to go about eradicating the party of its factions. A few years later and here we are with multiple once-powerful officials booted from the CPC, in prison or elsewhere, on charges of which nearly any public official in China could be found guilty (most obviously Wen Jiabao) were they on the wrong side of the party.
The key point in all of this is that cracking down on corruption was a means of survival for the party. Not survival from a popular discontent, overthrow the government kind of threat, but rather from the party itself. Brilliant move for such an organization, and one that I can't imagine ever happening strategically in American politics, legal formality and the rest aside.
Because Xi goverment wants to show a great determinaton to make people believe that CCP still would being depended on.
One way is keep developing the economy.
The another way is launching the strong anti—corruption campaigns,but in some some way ,today's suitation is totally diference and hard .we konw that in the past CCP's anti—corruption campaigns always do the surface jop,if this time the Chinese goverment does not arrest a higher offical to win back people'support,what CCP will facing maybe is a bigger problem like what the Former Soviet Union had experiences.
(sorry,my English is so poor,so..)
One way is keep developing the economy.
The another way is launching the strong anti—corruption campaigns,but in some some way ,today's suitation is totally diference and hard .we konw that in the past CCP's anti—corruption campaigns always do the surface jop,if this time the Chinese goverment does not arrest a higher offical to win back people'support,what CCP will facing maybe is a bigger problem like what the Former Soviet Union had experiences.
(sorry,my English is so poor,so..)
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