At first glance, a public corruption investigation into the former all-powerful head of China’s secret police shows how successfully President Xi Jinping has consolidated and concentrated power as leader of the authoritarian state.
In the five years before he ascended to the presidency in 2012, Mr Xi served on the nine-man Politburo Standing Committee, which effectively rules China, alongside Zhou Yongkang, the man in charge of all internal security for the country. But Mr Zhou’s former colleagues on Tuesday formally placed him under investigation for “suspected serious discipline violations”, a Communist party euphemism for corruption.
Mr Zhou is the most senior official since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949 to face such serious charges.