Zhou Yongkang’s Dec. 5 arrest and expulsion from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) surprised no one: His spectacular fall from power has followed the unwritten rules of CCP power struggles. Although often couched in moralistic terms of good versus evil, righteousness versus corruption, and law versus anarchy, these struggles are rarely motivated by anything other than lingering insecurities, competing ambitions, and mutual mistrust of the small group of men at the apex of China’s political hierarchy.
Zhou, a member of China’s top decision-making body, the Politburo Standing Committee, from 2007 to 2012, with a portfolio that included domestic security and intelligence, was one of China’s most powerful men. But not its most powerful: After taking office in November 2012, party Secretary Xi Jinping vowed to fight corruption in China by moving against both “tigers” and “flies” (high- and low-level officials). Until recently, the biggest “tiger” caught was the charismatic Bo Xilai, a former contender for top leadership who is now serving a life sentence in prison. Zhou had been a backer of Bo and was fatally weakened by his disgrace.
Chinese history is replete with power struggles. The closest parallel to Zhou’s is the dramatic early 1950s fall of CCP leader Gao Gang, the first prominent official to be purged after Mao Zedong established the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
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