China's official Xinhua news agency says Bo Xilai, the Communist Party leader in the city of Chongqing, has been removed from his post in the wake of a scandal involving a former lieutenant.

The charismatic Bo was considered a contender for a leadership post in the party's all-powerful Politburo Standing Committee at the national congress later this year. But his standing has been in doubt since Wang Lijun, his longtime police chief, went to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu in what was reported as a bid to seek asylum.

He is being replaced by Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang.