Top China graft-buster visited consulate

The United States confirmed Thursday that a top official linked to one of China's most high-profile Communist leaders had visited one of its consulates, amid speculation he tried to defect. The US embassy in Beijing declined to comment on rumours that Wang Lijun sought asylum, but the visit will further fuel growing intrigue surrounding Wang and his boss, Chongqing's Communist Party secretary Bo Xilai. As Bo's deputy, Wang -- whose current whereabouts are unknown -- won a reputation for graft-busting with a campaign to rid the southwestern city of corruption in which dozens of officials were arrested. Analysts said the scandal surrounding Wang could hamper Bo's chances of promotion to the nine-member Politburo Standing Committee, China's top decision-making body, when seven members, including President Hu Jintao, step down later this year. "Wang Lijun did request a meeting at the US Consulate General in Chengdu (Sichuan province) earlier this week in his capacity as vice mayor," embassy spokesman Justin Higgins told AFP. "The meeting was scheduled, our folks met with him, he did visit the consulate and he later left the consulate of his own volition." Higgins refused to comment on the rumours that Wang was seeking political asylum, which appear to have been fuelled by reports that scores of police vehicles descended on the consulate on Tuesday evening. Chongqing authorities removed Wang as police chief -- a position he held in addition to vice mayor -- last week before announcing Wednesday he was on leave, receiving "vacation-style treatment" for stress and over-work. Sick leave is a term often used as a euphemism for a political purge in China's murky one-party communist system. "Wang's dismissal is most likely the result of high-level in-fighting," Willy Lam, a leading China expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told AFP. "Bo's chances for the (Politburo appointment) have been adversely affected. It's long-standing 'organisational principle' of the CCP (Communist Party) that a region's No. 1 has to take political responsibility for the misdemeanors of his subordinates." As Bo's right-hand man, Wang, 52, an ethnic Mongolian, gained national fame while toppling former city deputy police chief Wen Qiang in a massive crime crackdown. Wen was executed in 2010. The Chongqing government refused comment on Wang's visit to the consulate.