In what seems to be a prelude to another takedown of a former senior member of the People’s Liberation Army, Chinese official and quasi-official propaganda and media instruments have recently launched a smear campaign against the son of Guo Boxiong, who until late 2012 was one of the most powerful men in the Chinese military.
Close family members of senior Party members are usually considered strictly off-limits as subjects of reportage, especially highly critical reportage, in China. That Guo’s son, Guo Zhenggang, the deputy political commissar of the Zhejiang Military District, is being targeted in this manner is a signal to observers of Chinese politics that the father may be next.
No action has been taken yet against either of the Guos, but a similar dynamic played out before the political destruction of Zhou Yongkang, the Party’s previous security czar. His son, Zhou Bin, was accused of having ties to the gangster businessman Liu Han from Sichuan, and was later detained on the outskirts of Beijing while being interrogated. Earlier this month Reuters reported, according to inside sources, that Guo Zhenggang was being investigated, and a range of mainland Chinese websites have reported the same, though an official announcement has yet to emerge.
