China ex-security chief’s fall cements Xi’s grip on power

BEIJING, Dec 6 (AFP): The Chinese Communist Party's decision to arrest and expel former security chief Zhou Yongkang is a bold step that demonstrates President Xi Jinping's determination to consolidate power "to a degree unseen" in decades, observers said Saturday.
Zhou-who retired from China's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee (PSC) in 2012 -- has been placed under a judicial probe for a barrage of charges including bribetaking and "leaking state secrets", the official Xinhua news agency reported.
The announcement early Saturday makes Zhou the most senior Communist Party official to be investigated since the infamous Gang of Four-a faction that included the widow of founding leader Mao Zedong-were put on trial in 1980.
In pursuing charges against Zhou, Xi "is breaking long-standing internal norms that had exempted the very top level of Chinese Party leaders from prosecution after they had left office", said Carl Minzner, an expert on Chinese law at Fordham Law School.
Zhou was a close ally of disgraced politician Bo Xilai, whose hard-charging approach led to his ouster from the party's top ranks-a factor that experts say contributed to Zhou's downfall.
"In toppling... Zhou, Xi has solidified his power to a degree unseen since the beginning of the reform period" in the late 1970s, Minzner told AFP, adding that "the rules of the game have been changed, quite dramatically".
A key figure in China's powerful petroleum industry, Zhou became ensnared in Xi's much-publicised anti-corruption drive in July when he was put under investigation for "serious disciplinary violation".
Xinhua said the decision to expel him was made at a Politburo meeting on Friday, indicating that the move was approved by the party's innermost circle of leaders, including Xi.
Communist Party authorities have been waging an anti-graft campaign since Xi ascended to the leadership two years ago.
Official graft has caused widespread public anger in China, and since taking office Xi-who proclaimed it a threat to the ruling party's existence-has sought to present himself as a crusader against the scourge.