Chinese city cuts ties to disgraced Bo Xilai

Zhang Dejiang, the current leader of the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing sought on Thursday to bury the legacy of its disgraced former top official Bo Xilai. Bo arrived in Chongqing in 2007, pumping money into social housing schemes and advanced infrastructure. It became a bold, alternative mode of growth for China known as the "Chongqing model". Bo was once a contender for top leadership in China, but was ousted following a scandal in which his wife murdered British businessman Neil Heywood. Dejiang said he did not know when Bo would be tried, but was sure that Bo's model for Chongqing didn't really exist. (SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY SECRETARY OF CHONGQING MUNICIPALITY, ZHANG DEJIANG, SAYING: "Firstly, I don't know when they will try Bo Xilai. This is a judicial question, and it has already entered a judicial process. Secondly, the policy of reform and opening up for Chongqing will not change. Thirdly, you asked about the so-called Chongqing model. I think that there is no such thing as the Chongqing model." The comments come as China's 18th Party Congress meets to usher in new president Xi Jinping and a new line-up for China's Communist Party, who will decide the country's future direction.