Chinese city of Dalian still ‘poisoned’ by Bo Xilai’s legacy of corruption, watchdog says
Sentenced to life imprisonment four years ago, disgraced leader’s rotten influence still lingers in port city he helped transform
The Chinese city of Dalian has yet to rid itself of the “poisonous” legacy left by its disgraced former leader Bo Xilai – the once rising star of the Communist Party now serving a life sentence for corruption – almost two decades after his departure, according to a provincial graft watchdog.
Bo served as mayor of Dalian, a major city and seaport in northeastern China’s Liaoning province, from 1993 to 2000, and as its party chief from 1999 to 2000. Between 2001 and 2004, he served as governor of Liaoning.
Despite the passage of time, inspectors from the provincial anti-corruption watchdog are in no doubt that the dark stain Bo left on Dalian has yet to be wiped clean, according to the Capitalnews WeChat account operated by Beijing Daily.
“There are many major problems within the Dalian party committee,” the inspectors were quoted as saying.
“They [the city’s leaders] have not thoroughly removed the poison left by Bo Xilai, or the practices that flout [party] discipline, such as officials getting promotions through bribery and personal connections.”
