1. The recent scandal concerning Bo Xilai, his deputy, and the national leadership show that the political superstructure of the PRC knows that it is very open to an internal coup.
2. They are especially worried about a particular faction being able through social media to rapidly mobilize in favor of a faction at the local and provincial levels.
3. Revolution in the PRC won't come from the internet but it will be amplified and infused by its openness to the propagandizing.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Chongqing Model Up For Grabs As Party Boss Bo Exits
Simon Montlake, Forbes Staff
3/15/2012 @ 6:41AM
Elite political purges are increasingly rare in China. The last high-level scalp was a Shanghai party chief ousted for corruption in 2006. Now it’s the turn of Bo Xilai, party secretary of mega-municipality Chongqing and a contender for a top slot in the leadership later this year. No longer: Bo is out of a job. Worse may follow. Chen Liangyu, the disgraced Shanghai cadre, was later sentenced to 18 years in jail. No charges have been laid against Bo, and Thursday’s official news reports didn’t give details of why he’d stepped down. But the proximate cause appears clear, or as clear as an internecine political struggle in China can be. Last month, Wang Lijun the former police chief of Chongqing spent a night at a US consulate, before being taken into custody by central government officials. He’s now under investigation. What he shared with US officials almost certainly relates to Bo, who had just demoted him.
Attention quickly turned to Bo’s barnstorming rule in Chongqing, which was marked by anti-mafia crackdowns, appeals to Communist nostalgia, and a dose of populism. His days were clearly numbered. Premier Wen Jiabao said Wednesday in an annual press conference that Chongqing’s leaders should “reflect seriously” on the Wang Lijun affair. He also warned against the excesses of the Cultural Revolution, which was taken by many as a swipe at Bo’s “red culture” campaign.
Now Bo’s signature initiatives in Chongqing may be used to hang him, metaphorically speaking. While his crackdown on organised crime was popular among ordinary city folk, some businessmen complained that their legal rights were trampled in the process. The Financial Times last week told the terrifying tale of one wealthy tycoon who alleged torture by army units that stood to profit from his downfall. Others confessed publicly to their crimes and some were later sentenced to death. Lawyers who tried to defend clients in court found that they risked being singled out as troublemakers. Above all of this stood Bo, the populist leader and rabble rouser who promised to put the working man first. That he’s the son of a storied party leader only added to the potency of his rise.
More:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmontlake/2012/03/15/chongqing-model-up-for-grabs-as-party-boss-bo-exits/
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