Bo's son may seek asylum in US after he is taken from flat

The son of the Chinese power couple embroiled in the death of a British businessman was escorted from his home by US officials, as experts said he could obtain asylum in America.

Bo Guagua, the Harrow and Oxford-educated son of Bo Xilai, was slipped out of his luxury flat near Harvard University late on Thursday night, in an arranged pick-up by law-enforcement officers.

Wearing a dark jacket and pulling a suitcase, the 24-year-old, who was preparing for final exams of a postgraduate degree, was driven away by an officer in an SUV. "He did not look frightened, but he seemed anxious to go with them," a source told The Daily Telegraph. "He had clearly been expecting it." Bo Guagua was accompanied by a female friend.

The FBI's Boston office and university police declined to say who the officer worked for, as speculation mounted that the younger Bo may have sought protection from American authorities.

He was picked up at about 10pm on Thursday, after his female friend told the doorman to expect a visitor and gave him an electronic key fob to let him into the underground car park. She is believed to have left later in Bo Guagua's Porsche, after collecting more luggage.

Throughout the day a group of Chinese men were parked conspicuously in front of a fire hydrant outside, breaking a basic American road law and suggesting they were unfamiliar with the country's rules.

Bo Guagua's father, a senior Chinese politician once tipped as a future premier, was purged by the ruling Communist party this week while his mother, Gu Kailai, was detained on suspicion of murder. She is accused of plotting the killing of Neil Heywood, a 41-year-old British expatriate and former confidant, whose death in a hotel room last year was initially blamed on alcohol poisoning.

The Bos are suspected of "intentional homicide", while Bo Xilai is accused of "serious discipline violations", in the most severe crisis to grip China's secretive ruling elite in decades.

The author of America's asylum law said the son, who like his mother is said by Chinese officials to have fallen out with Heywood over money, had a compelling case for refuge in the US.

"If you can establish there's a well-founded fear you would be persecuted in China because you would be imputed with the subversive or corrupt political views of your father, you would be just as eligible for asylum," said Bruce Einhorn, a retired judge and university professor.

As Bo Guagua is in the US legally on a student visa, he could apply for asylum "affirmatively" without being put into deportation proceedings. Due to the high-profile nature of the case, officials in Boston could pass any decision up to Alejandro Mayorkas, president Barack Obama's immigration chief.

Officials are not supposed to consider diplomatic impact, but experts said it would be impossible to ignore the fact that it would be a "political hot potato" between the US and a rival power.

One of Bo Guagua's closest friends told The Daily Telegraph he would be determined to return to China to serve his country, which he has said he wants to keep on a "path of smooth transition".

"He wants to go back to help," said the friend, who holidayed with the son and his parents. The friend said Bo Guagua deeply admired his grandfather, Bo Yibo, who was one of chairman Mao's eight "immortals" of the Chinese Communists' revolutionary generation.

Describing the younger Bo's parents as "extremely kind and generous", the friend said: "When you think about Chinese parents, they are not typical. They are very international and multi-cultural." Bo Guagua has been studying for a $90,000 (£56,610) Master's in Public Policy at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government since 2010.

He is said to have taken a more serious approach to his studies since being embarrassed by leaked pictures of parties at Oxford, from which he graduated after being disciplined for poor work. Harvard peers said Bo Guagua often spoke in classes about China but would dodge questions about its lack of democratic reform. "He was very sociable in his first year and hosted a number of parties but he's been much lower-profile this year," said one student.

He lives in a luxurious two-bedroom flat, paying $2,950 per month in rent.