A top cop in China disappears. Medical leave or U.S. asylum?

China’s most famous city police chief has disappeared less than a week after he was unexpectedly shunted from his job, sending a flurry of speculative reports across the Internet that he has sought asylum at a US consulate.

Wang Lijun, who led a high-profile crackdown on mafia gangs in the southwestern China mega-city of Chongqing three years ago, is a close ally of the city’s Communist Party secretary, Bo Xilai, one of China’s main contenders for a top spot in the party leadership as it prepares for a major transition later this year.

Mr. Wang’s fate is expected to shape Mr. Bo’s political future. Wang's removal from the police department and Internet rumors that he had requested political asylum at the US consulate in the city of Chengdu, near Chongqing, “is not good news for Bo,” says Wu Yue San Ren, an independent political commentator. “This will negatively impact Bo’s hopes of getting to the top,” Mr. Wu adds.

Bo’s open ambition and flamboyant style – both unusual in Chinese politics – have earned him many enemies. In the run-up to next autumn’s Communist Party congress, which will choose the next nine-man Standing Committee to run China, contenders for the top jobs are thought to be jockeying fiercely behind the scenes for position.

Full Story (Alaska Dispatch)