Asylum or ‘medical leave’ for Chinese crime buster?

Beijing (CNN) — Reports that a crime-busting emissary vital of a Chinese city had left on “medical leave” sparked a demoniac response on amicable media Wednesday, amid conjecture that he had sought haven during a U.S. consulate.

Wang Lijun, a former military arch and now clamp mayor of Chongqing in southwestern China, had suffered “immense mental stress” caused by overwork, city officials reported on Sina Weibo, China’s chronicle of Twitter.

The post combined that Wang was in bad health though enjoying “vacation-style treatment.”

The matter was re-posted 30,000 times within an hour, before it was removed, together with thousands of comments. But hours later, an matching post seemed explaining that a dismissal of a initial post was due to an “operational mistake.”

The postings and Wang’s remarkable depart led to widespread conjecture among netizens about what indeed happened to him.

Many speculated he might have sought domestic haven during a U.S. consulate in Chengdu — around 6 hours’ expostulate from Chongqing — after cinema were posted on Weibo display a complicated confidence participation around a U.S. Consulate, with roads hermetic off around a building.

Richard Buangan, orator for a U.S. embassy in China, told CNN that a U.S. “is not in a position to criticism on issues per a confidence of tactful facilities.” He combined that “there was no hazard to a Consulate” and that a U.S. supervision “did not ask any increasing security.”

U.S. State Department mouthpiece Amanda Nuland told reporters during a lecture in Washington after Wednesday that Wang had requested a assembly during a U.S. Consulate progressing in a week in his ability as clamp mayor.

“The assembly was scheduled, a folks met with him, he did revisit a consulate and he after left a consulate of his possess volition,” she said. “So — and obviously, we don’t speak about issues carrying to do with interloper status, asylum, et cetera.”

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai on Thursday discharged reporters’ questions about a matter, observant it has been resolved and would not impact subsequent week’s revisit to a U.S. by Vice President Xi Jinping.

“What happened dual days ago was an intensely removed case, and it has already been resolved,” Cui replied to a reporter’s doubt giving no futher details.

Wang, 53, an racial Mongolian, done his repute as a tough crime-fighter, spearheading a 2009 debate opposite Chongqing’s scandalous rapist gangs, even moving a TV array formed on his exploits.

The city of about 30 million has gifted fast mercantile expansion in new years, though it has also been saddled with cases of crime and gang-related crime.

According to a state-controlled Global Times, Wang was brought to Chongqing in 2008 by Bo Xilai — a city’s comrade celebration arch — to lead a crime-fighting debate “da hei” (smash black).

Under Wang, a da hei debate reportedly crushed scarcely 3,000 rapist groups and incarcerated thousands of suspects. It also led to a execution of scandalous total in a city’s underworld.

The crackdown helped boost a open form of Bo Xilai, a charismatic Politburo member who is partial of China’s domestic category of “princelings,” sons and daughters of insubordinate veterans.

In 2011, military arch Wang Lijun was promoted to emissary mayor of Chongqing.

Last week, however, a Chongqing city supervision announced that Wang, as emissary mayor, was being reassigned from overseeing open confidence to looking after a city’s education, record and environmental departments.

The sudden change in Wang’s portfolio triggered conjecture that he might be in domestic trouble. Still, he seemed to sojourn in good standing.

A Chongqing supervision matter described Wang as an central with “staunch domestic standing” and a “good repute among people.”

On Feb 5, Wang seemed on internal television, where he was shown visiting a internal Education Bureau. That is believed to be his final central open appearance.

Observers contend Wang’s sudden “leave” puts Bo in a parsimonious mark since he has anchored his domestic bulletin on a anti-corruption debate led by Wang.

Bo is deliberate a clever contender for a mark in a nine-member Standing Committee of a Politburo. A new lineup of leaders is approaching to be rigourously announced in late 2012.

The questions surrounding Wang — and his sudden depart — are deemed as a blow to Bo’s open repute and domestic future.