Wen Jiabao Purged Bo Xilai, Now He Becomes Xi’s Biggest Threat!

Wen Jiabao may well be the most underestimated figure in the Chinese Communist Party's internal power struggles. Few would have expected that this seemingly calm, mild-mannered elder was in fact the key player who brought down Bo Xilai, elevated Xi Jinping to the pinnacle of power, and who now may be the only one capable of pulling Xi down. Why? Let's find out. Did Wen Jiabao resolutely take down Bo Xilai? In 2012, one slap triggered the Wang Lijian incident, his sudden flight into the U.S. consulate, that shook the very foundations of the CCP's political stage. At the time, Bo Xilai, the shining star of the princeling faction, was seen as a near-certain candidate for the Politburo's standing committee at the 18th Party Congress. But Wang's shocking betrayal shattered Bo's carefully crafted red image, exposing blood-stained secrets and political shadows. Then-Premier Wen Jiabao did not rush to intervene when the scandal first broke. Instead, he chose to wait and watch, allowing the evidence to surface naturally. Wen understood that the Chongqing storm was not just a local scandal. It would directly shape the direction of China's supreme power transition at the upcoming Party Congress. Bo Xilai, however, seemed oblivious to the danger closing in on him. During the two sessions in Beijing, he laughed confidently, spoke of red Ferraris, and even recited lines of poetry declaring, not yielding even an inch to the overlord. His arrogance had reached its peak while the Hu Wen leadership outwardly maintained calm, betraying nothing. That calm ended on March 14. At his final press conference as Premier, lasting over three hours, the longest in CCP history, Wen Jiabao appeared to be waiting for something. At last, a Reuters reporter asked about the Wang-Lijian affair. Wen then calmly unveiled his prepared trump card. With striking severity, he declared that Bo Xilai's singing red, striking black movement in Chongqing was a toxic residue of the cultural revolution and must be eliminated, crushing the political kingdom Bo had spent decades building. The very next day, March 15, Bo was officially removed as Chongqing Party's secretary. By April 10, he was suspended from the Politburo. His escape routes cut off. Prison was now his only destination. It was the first time Wen Jiabao revealed his sharp political instincts and ruthless tactics. Later, Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported that as early as February 16, the Hu-Wen administration had convened a meeting of eight Politburo Standing Committee members to discuss how to handle Bo Xilai. Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao, Li Keqiang, and He Guochang supported an investigation and Bo's removal, while Zhang Zemin's allies Wu Banguo, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, and Zhou Yongkan opposed it. According to the report, Wen Jiabao was extraordinarily tough in that meeting, even pounding the table and warning that failure to deal with Bo would bring disastrous consequences for both party and country. Wen had calculated the situation carefully. The nine-member Standing Committee was split, four votes for Hu Wen, four for Zhang's faction. The deciding vote lay with Xi Jinping. Given that Xi was the only top leader who had personally gone to Chongqing to show support for Bo, his stance was uncertain. Reports say that while visiting the U.S., Xi received a call from the party's central office seeking his opinion. In the end, he sided with Hu and Wen, casting the decisive vote to investigate Bo. Meanwhile, Wen Jiabao, through the Ministry of State Security, had secured control of Wang Lijun early on Wen quietly passed this evidence to Xi, while Bo and Zhao remained in the dark, unaware that their schemes had already been exposed. In this way, Wen Jiabao not only secured Xi Jinping's crucial vote, but also dealt a sudden, devastating blow to Bo Xilai, while laying the groundwork for Zhou Yongkan's eventual downfall, removing the greatest obstacle to Xi's rise. For Hu and Wen, it was the pinnacle of their partnership. But Wen himself paid a price. Not long after, the New York Times, seen as having ties to Jiang's faction, published a bombshell report exposing corruption within Wen's family. The smell of gunpowder from this power struggle was so strong, you could sense it across the Pacific. Did Wen Jiabao and Xi Jinping fall out? Their alliance was brief, the first and last time Wen Jiabao and Xi Jinping stood side by side. Wen never imagined the man he had helped rise to power would turn out to be an upgraded version of Bo Xilai. At first, Xi leaned on an anti-corruption drive to consolidate authority, with support from Hu and Wen. But as his power grew, Xi revealed his true nature, expanding Bo's Chongqing model into a nationwide campaign, tigers and flies, crackdowns, and ideological control. In essence, both men sought to revive Mao-style hardline politics to crush reformist forces. Wen Jiabao, a technocrat rooted in economic management, was at heart a steadfast reformer. As Xi's leftist leanings became clear, a split was inevitable. Wen called for institutional reform and warned against a cultural revolution comeback, while Xi promoted the core leader cult and centralized power. Wen favored market liberalization and openness. Xi pushed dual circulation and the advance of state enterprises over private firms. Wen projected a people-friendly image, visiting the poor, while Xi imposed harsh social control, jailing human rights lawyers in the 709 crackdown and demanding unconditional obedience. Just a year after Xi took power, with Wen freshly retired, Xi couldn't resist a veiled jab. Accusing Wen of pretending to be enlightened to win praise at home and abroad, he urged the Party to be like him, wielding the sword to dominate public opinion. The real barometer of their relationship was Wang Yang. A reformist technocrat and Bo Xilai's rival, Wang embodied Wen's political legacy. He experimented with village elections in Wukong, pushed for asset disclosure, and openly rejected the idea that the people's happiness was a gift from the Party. Such moves doomed him under Xi. Though Wang entered the Politburo Standing Committee, he was sidelined to the largely ceremonial CPPCC, a clear demotion. This signaled the growing rift between Wen and Xi. By 2019, during the Hong Kong extradition protests, the clash turned open. Media reported that three Party elders, Zhu Rongji, Li Ruihuan, and Wen Jiabao, opposed Xi's hardline crackdown, warning it destroyed Deng Xiaoping's one country, two systems promise, and worsened relations with the West. Wen is even rumored to have told Xi bluntly, we've said all that needs to be said, the rest is up to you. Xi ignored him and pressed on with repression, unbothered by a few retired elders. At the 20th Party Congress, Wang Yang, still in a retirement age, was unexpectedly forced out, stunning observers. His exit marked Wen's defeat in grooming a successor and the total collapse of the reformist succession plan. From then on, Wen and Xi were no longer uneasy allies, but open adversaries. In 2021, Wen published a long essay in Macau Herald to commemorate his mother, using it to criticize the cultural revolution once more. The article was quickly scrubbed from the internet. Around the same time, state media celebrated Xi's mother, Qi Xin, portraying her guidance as shaping Xi's resilience at the top. Even motherhood became a battleground in elite politics. Xi dismissed Wen's words, just as he brazenly had Hu Jintao dragged from the 20th Congress in front of global cameras. Why would he bother with a retired, humble-born former premier? But that underestimation may prove one of Xi's greatest mistakes. Like Bo Xilai and Zhou Yongkang before him, Xi overlooked Wen's quiet but enduring influence. Australian scholar Yuan Hongbing has cited a Beijing rumor. Wen once declared, Whoever tries to revive the far-left ideas of the cultural revolution, whoever wants to bring back the Gang of Four's path, should cut off my head first. I will not watch the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers flow backward. Many dismissed it as emotional rhetoric. Looking back, that may have been a grave misjudgment, and Xi Jinping may be one of those who misjudged most. Wen Jiabao strikes back? Compared to his earlier remark, It's up to you. Wen Jiabao's later declaration, Cut off my head first, was the real threat. It was his way of telling Xi Jinping he would fight to the very end, even at the cost of his life. In July last year, Xi confidently convened the Third Plenum, preparing to fully overturn Deng Xiaoping's legacy and wipe out the reformist faction. A lengthy essay praising Xi as a great reformer was published, but vanished overnight. Rumors soon spread that Xi had collapsed from a stroke during the session. At first, few believed it. But in August, when Xi met Vietnamese General Secretary, photographs revealed a surgical scar behind Xi's right ear, evidence the rumors were not unfounded. Then, on September 30, 2024, another startling scene unfolded. At a banquet celebrating the PRC's 75th anniversary, a group of party elders, long banned from public view, suddenly reappeared. Wen Jiabao and Li Ruihuan sat on either side of Xi Jinping, chatting and drinking as Xi repeatedly raised his glass in toasts. Wen looked relaxed, almost like an honored guest. The image baffled observers. Some speculated Wen had been blackmailed into submission. But few noticed the deeper question. Why were multiple retired elders allowed at Xi's head table? Something unheard of in CCP history. Normally, only current standing committee members sit there. Elders are excluded without exception. What had changed to make Xi treat Wen as a guest of honor? At the time, no one knew. But soon after, the political aftershocks became undeniable. Just one month later, Miao Hua, the chief steward of Xi's control over the military, was placed under investigation. Not long after, rumors confirmed that Heiwei Dong, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission handpicked by Xi, had also been detained. And then, Xi's loyalist army was being purged mercilessly. Some generals were arrested, others reassigned or sidelined, while some simply vanished without explanation. By April and May this year, rumors spread like wildfire that Xi Jinping had lost real control, As the public debated whether Xi still held power, the CCP Politburo in June dropped a political bombshell. It unveiled new regulations creating a central decision-making coordination mechanism. Many immediately recognized it as a reincarnation of Deng Xiaoping's Central Advisory Commission. And then came whispers even more startling Xi Jinping could never have imagined that a retired, humble-born premier whom he once mocked as pretending to be enlightened could, almost overnight, unravel the one-man power structure Xi had built over more than a decade. Both Bo Xilai and Xi Jinping, it seems, underestimated Wen Jiabao, and both paid the price. Wen has shown, time and again, that he deeply understands the hidden rules of CCP power and knows exactly how to turn them to his advantage. That is why he has repeatedly survived storms, defied the odds, and flipped the script from a position of weakness. What do you think of Wen Jiabao's role? Share your thoughts in the comments below. See you next time.