China declines comment on marriage of son of jailed official Bo Xilai

BEIJING (Reuters) - China declined on Wednesday to comment about the marriage of the son of jailed former leader Bo Xilai to an individual from Taiwan, saying only that it opposed "malicious" speculation about the matter.

Public discussion is taboo in the case of Bo, once considered a contender for top leadership but jailed for life in 2013, and the issue of his son's marriage is made even more sensitive by the poor state of China's ties with Taiwan.

Asked about the wedding at a regular news briefing in Beijing, Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said he could not comment.

But he added the government "was opposed to maliciously hyping it up".

Pressed by a reporter on further questions about the son, Bo Guagua, Chen said he had nothing more to say about "that marriage".

The father was found guilty of corruption and abuse of power in a dramatic fall from grace linked to the killing of British businessman Neil Heywood. The mother was found guilty of murdering Heywood and is also in jail in China.

Last week, Taiwan's government said Bo Guagua was visiting the democratically-governed island, which China claims as its own, though Taipei rejects the sovereignty claims, following his marriage to a Taiwanese citizen.

Reuters has not been able to contact the Oxford- and Harvard-educated Bo Guagua for comment. He has lived outside China and kept a low profile since his parents were jailed. It is not known if he has returned to China during that time.

Reuters has also not able to confirm whom he had married.

Wednesday's news conference was carried live online by state media, but the official transcript omitted the question about Bo Guagua.

(This story has been refiled to add the missing word 'had' in paragraph 5)

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)