For the past four months, the media has been obsessed with the idea of a new “Gang of Four” in Chinese politics. It is popularly believed that Zhou Yongkang, Ling Jihua, Xu Caihou, and Bo Xilai formed a political faction and conspired to overthrow the Xi Jinping leadership through a coup.
Apparently, cues from China’s official media have lent some support to this conspiracy theory. First, when Zhou Yongkang was expelled from the Party on December 5, 2014, it was reported that he had seriously violated the Party’s “political discipline, organizational discipline, and confidential discipline.”
Second, one week after Ling Jihua was investigated for “serious violations of the Party discipline,” the Politburo held a meeting against factionalism on December 29, 2014. It was pointed out at the meeting that “banding together in gangs, forming cliques for private ends, or forming factions is not permitted,” hinting that Ling had been involved in factional activities.
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