A Chinese state-run newspaper on Sunday dismissed a United States media report alleging that the sacked Communist Party leader Bo Xilai wire-tapped President Hu Jintao as a tabloid tidbit, fabricated from dinner table gossip."
Official Global Times in an article in its online edition accused the western media was carrying "rumours of miscellaneous juicy details", even when the case of Bo, the sacked head of the Chongqing city was still being investigated.
"The whole story, if not published in the New York Times could be mistaken for a tabloid tidbit fabricated from dinner table gossip," it said.
The NYT story on April 26 alleged that Bo ran a wire-tapping system that extended as far as Hu, also general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China.
Citing "nearly a dozen people with party ties", it said the disgraced Bo ran a wire-tapping network across Chongqing, where he was party chief. His officials even listened to a
phone call involving Hu Jintao, it said.
The Global Times article said that "claims around the wiretapping scandal were initially voiced in the Voice of Hope, a radio station affiliated with the Falungong, a group
that endeavours to propagandise the obsolete 'China collapse theory'."
Falungong which used Chinese martial arts tai chi to protest was banned in China.
Imaginary factions and splits among the Party leadership have long been a mainstay of Falungong media.Since China announced the investigation into Bo's case, rumours about the leadership have been rampant on Falungong websites and newspapers, including claims of a power struggle between Bo and other leaders", the article said.
"The website of the Epoch Times, a Falungong-run newspaper, published three articles in March on how Bo's supposed wiretapping of other leaders, along the lines of the
recent NYT story", it said.
"It is a shame that the NYT, which claims to be an objective voice, now draws inspiration from Falungong rumour mills and conducts its China reports based on deeply rooted
political prejudices", it said.
The article taunted the US daily that it was incredible that the NYT which remains a leading daily in the US despite its declining profits, decided to run a report that barely
meets professional news standards.
The article goes on to say that perhaps the story was intended to cause a new stir among its yawning readership and win applause from those who dislike the Chinese government.
