Several Chinese news sites reported on Tuesday morning that Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai, embroiled in a political scandal involving his former police chief, offered to resign from the Communist Party’s Politburo yesterday. From Shanghaiist:
Bo reportedly attended a Politburo meeting yesterday and offered to resign from the Politburo when the recent scandal surrounding Wang was being discussed.
There’s no word regarding as to whether or not Bo’s alleged resignation will be accepted, with a decision reportedly only to be approved by the time of the next Politburo meeting.
The apparent source of the information is a one-man organization Hong Kong-based organization known as the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy. According to a source speaking to the Information Center, Bo will be reassigned to work as a director with the National People’s Congress Working Committee.
The rumor has flooded Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-equivalent, along with a screenshot of a Hong Kong TV news program reporting the story. One fellow “princeling” told The New York Times last week that Bo had suggested he would be willing to resign in the days after the Wang Lijun scandal broke, though today’s news has yet to escape the rumor mill and no official announcement has been made.
Bo’s police force in Chongqing – now helmed by Guan Haixiang – announced a “springtime offensive” campaign against crime and corruption in the city over the weekend, part of what one Hong Kong academic called an attempt to “try to maintain an image of things as usual.”
