BEIJING: Supporters of China’s disgraced senior politician Bo Xilai, who has been jailed for corruption, have set up a political party, two separate sources said, in a direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party’s de facto ban on new political groups.
The Zhi Xian Party, literally “the constitution is the supreme authority” party, was formed on Nov 6, three days before the opening of a key conclave of top Communist Party leaders to discuss much-needed economic reforms, the sources said.
It named Bo as “chairman for life”, Wang Zheng, one of the party’s founders and an associate professor of international trade at the Beijing Institute of Economics and Management, said by telephone. “This is not illegal under Chinese law. It is legal and reasonable,” Wang said.
Calls to the Communist Party’s propaganda department seeking comment went unanswered.
The party announced its establishment by sending letters to the Communist Party, China’s eight other political parties, parliament and the top advisory body to parliament, Wang said, adding that no ceremony was held.
It also sent a letter to Bo via the warden of his prison informing him that he would be their “chairman for life”, she said. It was not immediately clear if Bo would agree. The party was set up because it “fully agrees with Mr Bo Xilai’s common prosperity” policy, according to a party document seen, a reference to Bo’s leftist egalitarian policies that won him so many supporters.
Asked if party members included Communists, government officials or People’s Liberation Army officers, Wang said she could not discuss the matter to protect them because it was politically “sensitive”.
The constitution guarantees freedom of association, along with freedom of speech and assembly, but all are banned in practice.
REUTERS
