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China says it was 'correct decision' to arrest Bo Xilai's wife over Neil Heywood's murder
China has stated it was the "correct decision" to launch a probe into Bo Xilai after his wife was arrested in connection with the death of British businessman Neil Heywood.
An editorial in the People's Daily, the newspaper that the Communist party uses to communicate to its cadres across the country, said Mr Heywood's death was a "serious criminal case" and that "Bo Xilai's actions have seriously violated the party's discipline, caused damage to the party and to the country, and harmed the image of the party and the country".
The investigation showed respect for the rule of law, People's Daily stated.
Speaking at a press conference during a trade mission to Indonesia, David Cameron, the Prime Minister said: "We did ask the Chinese to hold an investigation and we are pleased that they are now doing that.
"It is very important we get to the truth of what happened in this very disturbing case, this very tragic case."
A motive for killing Heywood was not spelt out, but Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, said that Mr Bo, his wife, Gu Kailai and their son, Bo Guagua, had been on "good terms" with Heywood but that a "conflict over economic interests" had arisen.
The statement also said that the crime had been brought to light by Wang Lijun, the former police chief in the city.
Mrs Gu, the wife of Mr Bo, one of China's most powerful Communist party leaders, has been arrested for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Heywood, 41, a British businessman based in Beijing, was found dead last November in a hotel room in Chongqing, the city ruled over by Mr Bo and his wife.
On Tuesday, the Chinese government said a fresh investigation into his death is under way, and that the existing evidence strongly points to Gu Kailai, Mr Bo's 53-year-old second wife, and Zhang Xiaojun, "an orderly at Bo's home".
The pair have been "transferred to judicial authorities on suspected crime of intentional homicide", said a statement on Xinhua. The maximum penalty for murder in China is death.
A separate statement meanwhile said Mr Bo, 62, had been suspended from the Politburo and from the Central Committee and is under investigation for "serious discipline violations", spelling the end of his political career. Neither Mr Bo nor his wife have been seen since mid-March.
Mr Wang fled from Chongqing to the US Consulate in neighbouring Chengdu earlier this year, apparently in fear for his safety.
While inside the US consulate, he accused Mrs Gu of poisoning Heywood, prompting the Foreign Office to urge the Chinese authorities to reopen the case.
According to the New York Times, Mr Wang provided American diplomats with "a technical police file" on Heywood's death, as well as divulging a "trove of knowledge on the contest for power among the Chinese leadership".
At the time of his death, Heywood's family was told there would be no investigation or autopsy and that he had died of a heart attack.
His father, Peter, also died of heart disease aged 63. The British Embassy, however, was told he had died of excessive alcohol consumption, a detail that puzzled his friends, who said he rarely drank.
Mr Heywood, whose consultancy business helped to introduce Western companies to China, had become friends with Mr Bo and his wife in the 1990s, when Mr Bo was the mayor of Dalian. Some sources claim that, as an Old Harrovian, he helped ease Bo Guagua into Harrow.
However, Tom Reed, who dined with Heywood in Beijing a few days before his death, said he had never discussed his relationship with Mrs Gu.
Mr Reed said that at the time of his death, Heywood had not been in touch with the Bo family for at least a year. A second source, who knew Mr Heywood from his time in Dalian, said that he thought his relationship with the Bo family had "cooled" since Mr Bo took over in Chongqing in 2007.
According to the Wall Street Journal, however, Mrs Gu had become "increasingly neurotic" after being investigated for corruption in 2007 and had at one point demanded that Mr Heywood, as a member of her inner circle, divorce his wife and swear an oath of loyalty. Mr Heywood refused.
Like Mr Bo, whose father was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist party, Mrs Gu was part of the party's aristocracy. Her father was Gu Jingsheng, a renowned general. The couple both attended Peking university, where she studied law and international politics.
In her early career, Mrs Gu was one of China's most famous lawyers, even appearing as the subject of a patriotic television film.
And while Mr Bo suggested earlier this year that "she now basically just stays at home, doing some housework", she is believed to still have had control of her law firm, first named Kailai and then renamed Ang Dao.
Companies wishing to do business in Chongqing were well advised to retain her firm's services. She is also reported to have taken the English name Horus L Kai, at one point to have been the director of a company registered in Dorset.
Li Zhuang, a lawyer in Chongqing who was imprisoned during the crackdown on the mafia, said Mr Bo had often boasted of being "above the law" but that the investigation would be a test case to show that "everyone who commits crimes should be punished".
William Hague, the Foreign secretary, said he had taken a "personal interest" in Heywood's case.
"We look forward to hearing the outcome of those investigations," he said.
AND THEN THIS ONE - FROM HERE - JUSTCLICK !
Mrs Gu, the wife of Mr Bo, one of China's most powerful Communist party leaders, has been arrested for the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood.
Heywood, 41, a British businessman based in Beijing, was found dead last November in a hotel room in Chongqing, the city ruled over by Mr Bo and his wife.
On Tuesday, the Chinese government said a fresh investigation into his death is under way, and that the existing evidence strongly points to Gu Kailai, Mr Bo's 53-year-old second wife, and Zhang Xiaojun, "an orderly at Bo's home".
The pair have been "transferred to judicial authorities on suspected crime of intentional homicide", said a statement on Xinhua. The maximum penalty for murder in China is death.
A separate statement meanwhile said Mr Bo, 62, had been suspended from the Politburo and from the Central Committee and is under investigation for "serious discipline violations", spelling the end of his political career. Neither Mr Bo nor his wife have been seen since mid-March.
Mr Wang fled from Chongqing to the US Consulate in neighbouring Chengdu earlier this year, apparently in fear for his safety.
While inside the US consulate, he accused Mrs Gu of poisoning Heywood, prompting the Foreign Office to urge the Chinese authorities to reopen the case.
According to the New York Times, Mr Wang provided American diplomats with "a technical police file" on Heywood's death, as well as divulging a "trove of knowledge on the contest for power among the Chinese leadership".
At the time of his death, Heywood's family was told there would be no investigation or autopsy and that he had died of a heart attack.
His father, Peter, also died of heart disease aged 63. The British Embassy, however, was told he had died of excessive alcohol consumption, a detail that puzzled his friends, who said he rarely drank.
Mr Heywood, whose consultancy business helped to introduce Western companies to China, had become friends with Mr Bo and his wife in the 1990s, when Mr Bo was the mayor of Dalian. Some sources claim that, as an Old Harrovian, he helped ease Bo Guagua into Harrow.
However, Tom Reed, who dined with Heywood in Beijing a few days before his death, said he had never discussed his relationship with Mrs Gu.
Mr Reed said that at the time of his death, Heywood had not been in touch with the Bo family for at least a year. A second source, who knew Mr Heywood from his time in Dalian, said that he thought his relationship with the Bo family had "cooled" since Mr Bo took over in Chongqing in 2007.
According to the Wall Street Journal, however, Mrs Gu had become "increasingly neurotic" after being investigated for corruption in 2007 and had at one point demanded that Mr Heywood, as a member of her inner circle, divorce his wife and swear an oath of loyalty. Mr Heywood refused.
Like Mr Bo, whose father was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist party, Mrs Gu was part of the party's aristocracy. Her father was Gu Jingsheng, a renowned general. The couple both attended Peking university, where she studied law and international politics.
In her early career, Mrs Gu was one of China's most famous lawyers, even appearing as the subject of a patriotic television film.
And while Mr Bo suggested earlier this year that "she now basically just stays at home, doing some housework", she is believed to still have had control of her law firm, first named Kailai and then renamed Ang Dao.
Companies wishing to do business in Chongqing were well advised to retain her firm's services. She is also reported to have taken the English name Horus L Kai, at one point to have been the director of a company registered in Dorset.
Li Zhuang, a lawyer in Chongqing who was imprisoned during the crackdown on the mafia, said Mr Bo had often boasted of being "above the law" but that the investigation would be a test case to show that "everyone who commits crimes should be punished".
William Hague, the Foreign secretary, said he had taken a "personal interest" in Heywood's case.
"We look forward to hearing the outcome of those investigations," he said.
AND THEN THIS ONE - FROM HERE - JUSTCLICK !
China's Neil Heywood murder investigation backed by David Cameron
Following arrest of Bo Xilai's wife, Gu Kailai, PM promises full co-operation with authorities over death of British businessman.
David Cameron has promised to co-operate with the Chinese investigation into the suspected murder of British businessman Neil Heywood and praised the authorities for their decision to examine the "disturbing" case.
The prime minister was asked in Jakarta about the death of Heywood after the detention of Gu Kailai, the wife of the former Chinese leadership contender Bo Xilai, on suspicion of his murder.
Standing next to the Indonesian president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in the presidential palace in Jakarta, Cameron said: "On the case of Neil Heywood, we did ask the Chinese to hold an investigation and we are pleased that they are now doing that. I stand ready to co-operate in any way that we can. It is very important that we get to the bottom of the truth of what happened in this very disturbing case, this very tragic case."
Downing Street is pleased that the Chinese authorities appear to be taking the death of Heywood seriously. The prime minister's remark that Britain had been asking the Chinese authorities to launch an investigation was designed to answer critics who said Britain had failed to put any pressure on Beijing for fear of offending the growing superpower.
Bo's political death knell has sounded across China as newspaper front pages and hourly news bulletins trumpeted his disgrace and his wife's detention for the suspected murder of Heywood.
The scandal that toppled the high-profile former leadership contender is the biggest political upheaval in China since general secretary Zhao Ziyang was ousted following the Tiananmen democracy protests in 1989. It comes months before a once-a-decade leadership transition.
The official party newspaper, the People's Daily, urged people to rally around the top leadership, saying Bo had damaged the cause and image of both party and state. But while investigations into the couple are continuing, news coverage also sought to draw a line under events, with a Global Times article saying the country had "steadily overcome a bump" ahead of the 18th party congress this autumn, which will unveil the new leadership.
The news agency Xinhua has said Bo is under investigation by central party officials for "serious disciplinary violations" – a statement that has often been followed by corruption charges against leaders in the past.
Bo was dismissed on 15 March as party secretary of the south-western city of Chongqing – where Heywood died last November – but had held on to his politburo and central committee seats, apparently because leaders had not agreed on how to handle him. Many believe that was related to horse-trading before the autumn power transition as well as Bo's powerful connections as the "princeling" son of a renowned Communist party veteran.
The scandal was set in motion in February when Bo's ally and former police chief Wang Lijun fled to the US embassy in Chengdu, where he is believed to have told diplomats he had angered Bo by confronting him with suspicions over Heywood's death. Wang is now under investigation.
But many believe rivals and opponents were already seeking to damage Bo.
Jean-Pierre Cabestan, of Hong Kong University, suggested Wang's flight, while deeply embarrassing to Chinese leaders, was merely "the last straw on the camel's back". Analysts say Bo alienated senior party figures by attempting to leverage popular support to win promotion in the leadership transition.
"He created a coalition of everyone wanting to get rid of him because he became a 'troublemaker' and a factor of division," said Cabestan.
He suggested it was also "a clear victory for reformists" at the top of the party who are pressing for change.
"Behind this case is a power struggle," said Zhang Ming, a liberal scholar at Renmin University in Beijing. "Bo broke the rules and greatly deviated from the [usual] track … This shows that the struggle has intensified."
Wu Qiang, a political scientist at Tsinghua University, said Bo's populism had been a threat: "This is a cleaning-up among princelings," he added.
Xinhua has said Bo's 51-year-old wife, Gu Kailai, and a worker from the couple's home are "highly suspected" of killing Heywood. It added that Gu and the couple's son Bo Guagua had been on good terms with the 41-year-old British businessman but that there had been a conflict over economic interests.
Britain had already asked China to reinvestigate Heywood's death, following suggestions of suspicious circumstances. Family members in China and the UK have dismissed the idea of foul play and said he died of a heart attack.
Heywood's widow was at their home in a blossom-lined, upmarket housing compound in the northern suburbs of Beijing on Tuesday, but did not answer the door. Her late husband's silver Jaguar, bearing a union flag sticker, was parked in the driveway.
"No one is home," said a man in plain clothes who said he was head of security for the compound.
Britain and the US were briefed on the announcements shortly before they were made public.
The foreign secretary, William Hague, has welcomed the reinvestigation, telling reporters: "It's a death that needs to be investigated, on its own terms and on its own merits, without political considerations."
As with many developments in the case, Tuesday night's bombshell announcements were presaged by a bout of speculation about such moves on the country's microblogs.
Despite censorship, many used the services to praise and attack Bo on Wednesday.
"Such a good official. He did so many good things for people … How much do the bad guys hate him!" wrote one internet user.
"He wanted to restore the cultural revolution. He even criticised and fought against his own father [during the cultural revolution]. Where is his goodness? I don't get it!" argued another.
A third noted simply: "What happened in Chongqing told us that no matter what is right or wrong, it is important to stand on the winning side."
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