NEW YORK TIMES: On the evening of Feb. 6, a vice mayor of a major Chinese city who had a reputation as a crime fighter turned up at the American Consulate in Chengdu in an agitated state, telling a tale of corruption and murder that has ensnared the Obama administration in a scandal it wants nothing to do with…
According to the officials’ version, the American diplomats who oversaw his brief, bizarre stay pre-empted any formal application for asylum because of the difficulties of spiriting him out of the country and questions about his eligibility. Instead, they said, the State Department shielded him from almost certain arrest by police officers loyal to Mr. Bo and ensured he could make his accusations in Beijing…
“It would be incredibly foolish for the U.S. to play any public cards in this very messy Chinese family feud,” said Orville Schell, the director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at the Asia Society. “The U.S. and China urgently need to get along, and if there is one thing the Chinese are neuralgic about, it is when their private affairs get aired before foreigners in an embarrassing way.”… (more)
