Son of China's Bo Xilai defends his father

The Harvard-educated son of disgraced Chinese political leader Bo Xilai defended his father against charges of taking bribes and having improper sexual relationships, saying he believed in his father's good character.

"Personally, it is hard for me to believe the allegations that were announced against my father, because they contradict everything I have come to know about him throughout my life," Bo Guagua said in a statement posted on the microblog site Tumblr.

"Although the policies my father enacted are open to debate, the father I know is upright in his beliefs and devoted to duty," he added. Bo confirmed the statement, posted on Saturday, with Reuters.

Since graduating from Harvard University in May with a master's degree in public policy, Guagua, 24, has kept a low profile, in contrast to reports earlier this year of a playboy lifestyle in the United States that created a firestorm on the Internet back in China.

The younger Bo's statement came a day after China's ruling Communist Party accused his father of abusing his power, taking huge bribes and other crimes. Bo will be handed over for criminal investigation, state media reported on the latest phase in a scandal of murder and cover-ups that has shaken China's leadership.

Bo had been seen as a strong contender to become a member of the powerful Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party Political Bureau later this year. Bo's wife Gu Kailai and his former police chief Wang Lijun have both been jailed over the scandal stemming from the murder of British businessman Neil Heywood in the southwestern city of Chongqing, where Bo was Communist Party chief.

A government statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency said that in the murder scandal, Bo "abused his powers of office, committed serious errors and bears a major responsibility". Bo has been expelled from the party as well as the elite decision-making Politburo and Central Committee "in view of his errors and culpability in the Wang Lijun incident and the intentional homicide case involving Bogu Kailai".

Guagua is the only child of Bo and Gu. Though his friends and acquaintances say he would like to challenge the negative perception of his parents more forcefully, Guagua has said very little publicly because he fears it could only make matters worse. "He has always taught me to be my own person and to have concern for causes greater than ourselves," Guagua said in his most recent statement.

"I have tried to follow his advice. At this point, I expect the legal process to follow its normal course, and I will await the result." This past summer Guagua traveled along the Maine coast and visited Westchester County in New York, according to friends and acquaintances.