Bo Xilai left the meeting room during the Fifth Session of the 11th National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 9. Photo: the Beijing News
The CPC Central Committee's latest decision to investigate Bo Xilai's serious violations of discipline has drawn widespread attention.
Many Western analysts interpret the case as being related to a "political fight" within the Party.
There is a deeply rooted misunderstanding among Western public opinion that within the CPC, two factions, the so-called reformists and conservatives, are locked in conflict. They don't believe that both the CPC and mainstream Chinese society support reforms and advocate balance between reforms, development and stability.
The Western political system encourages diversity. It creates conflicting political forces through such diversity and then seeks to balance them. With their own political and cultural perspectives, Westerners are easily misled into believing that the so-called struggle between different political lines is ubiquitous.
However, China's political system sets harmony as the basis of national governance. As soon as a gap arises, a set of mechanisms aimed at narrowing it and building a social consensus will start to work. Such mechanisms are growing increasingly strong and mature.
China is not standing at a so-called political crossroad. Party members and society have reached consensus over the general direction of establishing socialism with Chinese characteristics.
Bo's case is an independent incident of a violation of Party discipline and China's laws. What's going on is the inevitable result of a lawful investigation. It is an exaggeration to say the case mirrors China's "political fight."
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, westernization has long been dispelled as a possible choice for China's reform. Few Chinese accept the Western doctrine that the CPC should legally have factions.
The stir around Bo's case will fade soon. The idea that China might fall into a so-called magnified struggle, due to such an incident, has long become history.
The author is a commentator with the Chinese edition of the Global Times.
opinion@globaltimes.com.cn