On April 19, 2012, the Associated Press quoted from overseas-based Chinese websites and political insiders that Zhou Yongkang, one of nine members of the Party’s all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee, is also under heavy scrutiny and could face a reckoning as part of the recent scandal unraveling around the ousting of Bo Xilai, a Politburo member and former Party chief of Chongqing.

"Zhou, 72, is widely reported to have been the only leading official to have argued against last week’s striking decision to suspend Bo’s membership in the 25-seat Politburo – a step that effectively ended the political career of one of China’s most ambitious and high-profile politicians."

"Since then, Zhou has made tearful self-criticisms to President Hu Jintao and former leader Jiang Zemin, his political mentor, according to the U.S.-based Chinese-language dissident news site Boxun.com, which has been reporting accurately on the Bo scandal. Despite that, Zhou is now under some form of secretive investigation by the Party’s disciplinary body," it said.

Source: Associated Press, April 19, 2012
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2012/04/19/probe_of_security_boss_could_widen_china_scandal/

Study Times, the theoretical journal of the Communist Party, published an article that attempted to correct “misconceptions” that Chinese scholars and government officials have about soft power. The article said that 90 percent of the publications related to culture (in China) have used the term "soft power." However, many people have described the term purely from the academic perspective and have missed its ideological meaning. The author pointed out that this misconception has had a negative impact on the development of China’s soft power; if it is not corrected, it could affect the direction of the development of Chinese style socialist culture.

The article asserted that the United States wants to dissolve the belief, confidence, and trust of Chinese Communist officials with a butter knife (of soft power) in order to change the Chinese Communist leaders’ Marxist beliefs … and eventually make them completely accept Western values and cultural thought. The 6th Plenary Session of the 17th Communist Congress proposed to develop a powerful nation with a socialist culture. The key is to develop the socialist core value system so as to fight against the infiltration of the western hostile forces and prevent a repeat of the tragedy that took place in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe .

Source: Study times, April 16, 2012 http://www.studytimes.com.cn:9999/epaper/xxsb/html/2012/04/16/16/16_36.htm

On April 16, 2012, Qiushi, a journal of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, published an article  by Liu Yazhou, Political Commissar of the PLA’s National Defense University, regarding the Chinese Communist Party’s absolute leadership over the armed forces. In the article, Liu emphasized Hu Jintao’s leadership over the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Liu stated: “In conclusion, (we) must adhere to the Party’s absolute leadership over the army in the whole process of ‘viewing politics as the priority, acting from the point of view of the overall situation, and maintaining discipline’ (following Hu Jintao’s instructions); all of our actions must firmly abide by the commands issued by the CCP Central Committee, the CCP Central Military Commission, and Chairman Hu.”

Source: Qiushi, April 16, 2012
http://www.qstheory.cn/zxdk/2012/201208/201204/t20120412_150779.htm