Prosecutors indict former general on bribery charges

In this March 9, 2012 file photo, Xu Caihou, left, chats with Bo Xilai, right

Chinese prosecutors have indicted a former top military leader on bribery charges, state media said yesterday. Xu Caihou, former deputy chairman of the ruling Communist Party’s powerful Central Military Commission, has admitted to allegations that he took “especially huge amounts” in bribes directly or through his family members to help others get promoted or to seek benefits for others, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Xu is the most senior military figure snared in a sweeping crackdown on corruption launched by President Xi Jinping, and his case points to rampant corruption in the military ranks. Xu was the top uniformed officer, and in the military hierarchy ranked behind only then-President Hu Jintao, who was the commission chairman. The former general is expected to appear in a military court. It is rare for the party to reveal corruption cases involving military personnel, but Beijing also wants to send signals that its anti-graft campaign is serious and applies to everyone, no matter how high-ranking they are.

Chinese paramilitary policemen march across Tiananmen Gate in Beijing

Beijing wants better legal system under party rule

China’s ruling Communist Party is planning to introduce measures to improve the country’s legal system but says it will also strengthen the party’s leadership position through the use of law, according to a party document released yesterday. The full guidelines on how to govern the country according to law were published after the party’s 205-member Central Committee met last week. A summary was released Thursday. The document said China must improve its legal system but do so under the party’s leadership and that ensuring the party’s leadership is the fundamental basis for ruling the country according to law. “We should deftly use the legal procedure to turn the ideas championed by the party into the national will, and we should deftly use the legal procedure to turn personnel recommended by the party into leader of state agencies,” the document said. The decisions have disappointed some Chinese legal scholars who were hoping for measures to enshrine the authority of the constitution, although some scholars say they have never harbored any illusion that the party would restrict its own powers.