It has been a week like no other in China. There have been allegations of poisoning, corruption, extortion and political intrigue spanning three continents. Every day new shockwaves have rippled out from the death of British businessman, Neil Heywood, who is now at the epicentre of Beijing's biggest political earthquake since the Tiananmen protests of 1989.
In
Britain, MPs are demanding to know if Heywood was a UK government spy.
David Cameron has held urgent meetings in Downing Street with China's
propaganda chief, and foreign secretary William Hague has called for an
internal investigation into the handling of the case by consular
officials.
Washington is also being dragged into the morass, with details emerging this week
of the terrified chief investigator Wang Lijun's bid for refuge at the
US consulate in Chengdu in February – and the stand-off that followed
as the building was surrounded by Chinese security personnel demanding
he be turned over. Throw in additional – apparently untrue – rumours of
military coups in Beijing, lovenests in Bournemouth and claims of
murder and torture in Chongqing, and the story – shaped largely by
leaks from the Chinese authorities – could come from a Le Carré
thriller.
For more: Neil Heywood: Death, corruption, intrigue … the story so far | UK news | The Guardian
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