Sri Lanka, Aug. 20 -- When news broke that Liu Jianchao, one of China's most prominent diplomats and head of the International Liaison Department, had been detained for questioning, it sent ripples through Beijing's political and diplomatic circles. Liu, widely tipped to be a future foreign minister, was not just another seasoned cadre. He was a man deeply embedded in the Communist Party's disciplinary apparatus, having overseen international aspects of the anti-corruption campaign, including the high-profile Operation Fox Hunt that tracked down fugitives abroad. His abrupt fall from grace, alongside the temporary disappearance of his deputy Sun Haiyan, is not simply a political setback. It is a revealing moment in how Xi Jinping's anti-cor...