China pide paso... II

Bo Xilai Lashes Out at Prosecutors as Trial Ends

CHINA NEWS
Updated August 26, 2013, 1:56 a.m. ET

Fallen Communist Party Star Calls Charges Against Him Arbitrary

BEIJING—Embattled former Communist Party star Bo Xilai lashed out at prosecutors as his trial on corruption and abuse of power charges came to an end on Monday, saying the evidence didn't prove his guilt and criticizing their case for depending on testimony from his wife and his former top law enforcer.

In the final session of the closely watch five-day trial, Mr. Bo defended himself against charges of bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power, according to an official court tras*cript released online on Monday. "I believe the prosecutors' charges against me are extremely one-sided, arbitrary and subjective," he said in his final statement, according to the tras*cript.

The official Xinhua news agency said the court would announce the verdict at an unspecified later date.

Chinese prosecutors on Monday said Mr. Bo had refused to admit guilt despite committing "serious crimes," and they called on the court to impose heavy penalties. They said that the still-defiant former politician had disavowed previous statements made during the investigation and didn't qualify for leniency under China's legal system.

"The defendant's crimes are extremely serious and he has refused to admit guilt. There is no legal basis for leniency," the prosecution said in a summation of its case.

Mr. Bo renewed his criticism of the testimony of his wife, Gu Kailai, and his former top deputy, Wang Lijun, who was the police chief in the city of Chongqing when Mr. Bo was its party boss. Mr. Wang's flight to a U.S. consulate in February 2012 began a series of events that led to the toppling of Mr. Bo and exposed deep rifts within the top ranks of China's Communist leadership.

Earlier in the trial, Mr. Wang had testified that Mr. Bo punched him after he confronted Mr. Bo with suspicions that Ms. Gu was behind the November 2011 death of British national Neil Heywood. Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Bo removed Mr. Wang from the case because he wanted to reopen an investigation into Mr. Heywood's death. Last year Ms. Gu was convicted of murdering Mr. Heywood.

Mr. Bo said he removed Mr. Wang from his position because the police chief was unethical and not to stop the investigation, and said he slapped but didn't punch Mr. Wang. "Wang Lijun told lie after lie," Mr. Bo said, according to the court tras*cript. "To use his testimony to prove that I am guilty is not credible."

Mr. Bo disputed Mr. Wang's contention that his effort at a cover-up prompted Mr. Wang's flight from Chongqing to the U.S. consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu. "It isn't easy to create a defector with just one slap," he said.

"The real reason for his defection was that he harmed my family and he harmed my feelings, and he knew what my personality is like," he said, according to the tras*cript. In previous testimony Mr. Bo has said he could be quick to anger and admitted that he slapped Mr. Wang.

Mr. Bo also contended that Mr. Wang and Ms. Gu had a romantic relationship, and the two of them withheld important information from him. "He and Gu Kailai were like glue and paint," he said, using a Chinese term for a romantic relationship.

Regarding separate allegations that he took bribes, he said, "this is all made up." Prosecutors had alleged that Mr. Bo "either by himself or with the aid of his wife and his son Bo Guagua" accepted cash, travel and other largesse from Chinese businessmen.

He said Ms. Gu wouldn't have bothered him with such personal-expense details. "The state promoted me not because I was good at accounting," he added.

Mr. Bo also disavowed previous written testimony that he had given to investigators. That written testimony showed Mr. Bo expressing regret for his actions. "I did this against my will," he said on Monday, according to the tras*cript.

He added, "at that time I still held out a hope they would retain my party membership and allow me to keep my political life."

He thanked the court and said that prosecutors worked hard to put together evidence. "I respect their work and this has been a very complicated case," he said.

He added, "But how much of this really pertains to me?"

Mr. Bo's trial was the country's most politically sensitive court proceeding in more than three decades.

While experts say it will almost certainly result in Mr. Bo's conviction because the party controls the courts, it is being watched closely for how authorities handle the case of a rare Chinese politician with media savvy and popular appeal in some parts of the country.

Mr. Bo appeared headed for higher office until he was stripped of his positions last year.

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China, blanco de uno de los ataques DDoS más grandes

En lo que probablemente sea la prueba más contundente de que hay una ciberguerra en curso, el gobierno de China reportó el ataque DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) más grande del que jamás haya tenido registro, afectando e incluso interrumpiendo (en ciertos casos) el acceso a portales bajo el dominio .cn. El ataque comenzó a la medianoche del pasado domingo (hora local), seguido por otro ataque aún más intenso cuatro horas después.

Cuando se lleva a cabo un ciberataque, la gran mayoría de los dedos queda apuntando hacia China. No es ninguna novedad que el gobierno de ese país ha “patrocinado” (por así decirlo) a ciertas actividades en la Web (algo que han negado hasta el hartazgo y más allá), pero en esta oportunidad, la tortilla se dio vuelta. Alguien le pisó la cola al dragón rojo de oriente, y lo hizo durante un buen rato. De acuerdo a un reporte oficial proveniente del Centro de Información de Red chino, el acceso a portales bajo el dominio .cn se vio comprometido por lo que ha sido el ataque DDoS más grande que China haya recibido en su historia. La información disponible indica que los primeros síntomas del ataque se manifestaron a la hora cero (Beijing) del pasado domingo 25, evolucionando en un ataque completo a las 02:00, y extendiéndose hasta las cuatro de la mañana, cuando fue seguido por otro ataque de mayor intensidad.

Un reporte de la firma de seguridad CloudFlare indica que el ataque provocó una caída en el tráfico del 32 por ciento entre sus dominios chinos registrados, sin embargo, sólo en algunos pocos casos un usuario se habría encontrado con una interrupción total del servicio, cuando la norma aparentemente fue una pérdida en la velocidad de acceso. En total, el ataque derribó al registro .cn entre dos y cuatro horas, y para las diez de la mañana del domingo, el acceso ya estaba siendo restaurado. Otro detalle interesante es el momento escogido. En las últimas horas, China ha estado pendiente del juicio a Bo Xilai, un ex-político local de muy alto perfil, acusado de corrupción, abuso de poder y aceptar sobornos. Si bien no ha faltado la clásica sospecha que relaciona al ataque con el juicio a Xilai (la información que circula sobre el juicio está siendo celosamente monitoreada), lo cierto es que al tratarse de un DDoS, podría haber sido llevado a cabo incluso por una sola persona con los recursos suficientes (léase “control directo de una botnet”). Pedir más datos a los canales oficiales probablemente sea como hablarle a una pared, por lo tanto, estamos esperando por cualquier detalle que pueda surgir. Ahora, alguien debe preguntarlo: ¿Tendrá relación con la caída de Google y los problemas que tuvo NASDAQ recientemente…?

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China says economy stabilizing after long slowdown
By AP News Aug 27, 2013 11:14AM UTC

BEIJING (AP) — China’s government tried Monday to reassure companies and its public about the economy’s health, saying growth is stabilizing after a lengthy decline and should hit the official target of 7.5 percent for the year.

The announcement by the chief spokesman for the Cabinet’s statistics agency was part of official efforts to defuse unease about the country’s deepest slump since the 2008 global crisis.

“There are growing signs of stabilization and also of further growth,” said the spokesman, Sheng Laiyun, at a news briefing. “We are confident we can hit our full-year growth target.”

Sheng gave no updated data but cited previously released figures that showed industrial production and other parts of the economy improved in July.

Economic growth fell to 7.5 percent in the three months ending in June after declining steadily for 10 straight quarters. Sheng said it was the longest such slowdown since China’s market-style reforms began three decades ago.

The International Monetary Fund and private sector analysts have cut this year’s growth forecasts for China, though to a still healthy level of close to 8 percent. Some analysts say growth could dip below 7 percent in coming quarters.

The slowdown was largely due to government efforts to reduce reliance on trade and investment that drove the past decade’s boom and nurture more self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption.

Still, the downturn has been deeper than forecast, due to unexpectedly weak global demand for Chinese goods. That raised concern about higher unemployment, which could fuel political tensions, but the government says the economy is still generating new jobs.

Sheng also downplayed concern about debts owed by local governments that borrowed heavily over the past decade, in part to pay for building projects under Beijing’s stimulus in response to the 2008 crisis. Some analysts worry the economy could suffer if local governments default, hurting the state-owned banking industry.

An audit last year found local governments ran up debts of 10.7 trillion yuan ($1.6 trillion) over the preceding decade, equal to about one-quarter of China’s annual economic output.

Sheng said some local governments have paid down their debts while others are rolling out plans to manage them.

“We are monitoring the situation carefully and right now the issue is under control,” he said.

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