Monday, January 17, 2005
Purged Chinese Party Chief Zhao Ziyang DiesMon Jan 17, 2005 07:01 AM ET By Benjamin Kang Lim
BEIJING (Reuters) - Zhao Ziyang, a Chinese reformist toppled as Communist Party chief in 1989 for opposing an army crackdown on the Tiananmen Square democracy protests, died in hospital Monday, his family said. He was 85.
The one-time heir-apparent to Deng Xiaoping, his long party career defined by his tearful pleading with student protesters in the square, spent his last 15 years confined to house arrest by successors fearing his residual influence as an icon of reform.
"He is free at last," Zhao's daughter, Wang Yannan, said in a statement obtained by Reuters. Her father died in a coma at a Beijing hospital early on Monday after a series of strokes.
He spent the final years of his life sequestered behind the red doors of a courtyard home in central Beijing, emerging only for brief visits to the provinces or to the golf course. Unmarked cars and police were ever-present on the street outside.
The long years of house arrest were "a showcase of shame for Chinese justice and for the Chinese Communist Party itself," Zhao's former aide, Bao Tong, wrote. Bao himself was jailed for seven years in 1989 and remains under close surveillance.
Zhao was accused of splitting the party after opposing the decision of Deng, then China's paramount leader, to crush the Tiananmen protests. He remained a politically sensitive figure amid government fears that his death could spark protests.
On Monday, a mere scattering of tourists, Beijing residents and guards walked in the vast wintry expanse of Tiananmen Square. Irish flags flew to mark a visit by Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.
The successors of a man linked with pushing economic reforms in the early 1980s fear his death could serve as a rallying point for reformers, for workers bitter at high unemployment and for poor farmers envious of wealthy urban residents.
He was never again seen in public after May 19, 1989, when he went to the square and urged student demonstrators to leave. The next day the government declared martial law and the army, backed by tanks, crushed the protests on June 3-4. Hundreds were killed.
Zhao, a farming expert and the son of a landlord, was sacked as party general secretary. Jiang Zemin took his place, ruling for more than a decade before handing over to Hu Jintao in 2002.
China's political and economic landscape has been transformed since 1989, and after years hidden from public view, Zhao remains largely an enigma for younger Chinese.
"The leadership will take precautions anyway, with stepped-up security and surveillance -- they always do," said Kenneth Lieberthal, a China expert at the University of Michigan.
"But will this be a spark for another protest movement? I have no idea. But I would doubt that it would," he said.
NOTHING TO CHANCE
While Zhao's reforms helped give birth to a new middle class, social pressures provided the potential for unrest.
"That was a time the regime was in deep trouble. Now it seems the regime is rather well consolidated," said Andrew Nathan, a China expert at Columbia University.
"But on the other hand, the cities are full of petitioners and migrant workers and laid-off factory workers and pensioners without pensions, so it's a dangerous mix of people who may take the opportunity to remember," said Nathan.
"He stood for something better."
China is leaving nothing to chance.
The government tightened security around the square last week once Zhao's health began to deteriorate. Police and plainclothes agents stopped foreign reporters outside his home.
His successors have reason to fear his posthumous influence.
The death in January 1976 of populist premier Zhou Enlai led to an outpouring of grief and protests on Tiananmen Square. The death of purged reformist party chief Hu Yaobang in April 1989 set off the demonstrations that culminated in the army massacre.
Taiwan cabinet spokesman Chen Chi-mai urged China to learn from Zhao's "spirit of tolerance and to push democratic and political reforms simultaneously and respect different voices in society." Beijing and Taipei have been bitter rivals since Nationalist forces fled to the island after losing the Chinese civil war in 1949.
Beijing's leaders have repeatedly ruled out any shift toward Western-style democracy. Indeed, a news blackout existed even as Zhao's health began to fail.
He was taken to hospital on Dec. 5 for chronic pneumonia and had been in a coma since Friday after multiple strokes.
"He died at 7:01 a.m. (2301 GMT Sunday). The medical report is not out yet," Zhao's son, Liang Fang, who adopted his mother's surname, told Reuters.
"National leaders came to pay respects but it is not convenient to say who they are," Liang said.
Vice President Zeng Qinghong visited the hospital on Monday one hour before Zhao died, Hong Kong-based dissident Frank Lu said in a statement.
Such acts are delicate in China's hierarchy, and indicate the finesse that Zhao's successors must exercise as they decide the level of ceremony with which to salute the passing of a leader who was one of their own without evoking popular anger.
"The thing about him is he never recanted, he never admitted he'd done anything wrong, so that made him an awkward person for the party leadership to deal with," Nathan said.
The official Xinhua news agency confirmed Zhao's death in a terse report, referring to him as "comrade" -- technically leaving room for political rehabilitation at some stage.
But state television and radio were mum.
"This is the end of an era," said Jiang Peikun, husband of retired professor Ding Zilin, whose teenage son was killed in the crackdown. "At present there is no person like him on the Chinese political stage. No one can replace him." (Additional reporting by Tamora Vidaillet, John Ruwitch and Lindsay Beck and Carrie Lee in Hong Kong)
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© Reuters 2005
BEIJING (Reuters) - Zhao Ziyang, a Chinese reformist toppled as Communist Party chief in 1989 for opposing an army crackdown on the Tiananmen Square democracy protests, died in hospital Monday, his family said. He was 85.
The one-time heir-apparent to Deng Xiaoping, his long party career defined by his tearful pleading with student protesters in the square, spent his last 15 years confined to house arrest by successors fearing his residual influence as an icon of reform.
"He is free at last," Zhao's daughter, Wang Yannan, said in a statement obtained by Reuters. Her father died in a coma at a Beijing hospital early on Monday after a series of strokes.
He spent the final years of his life sequestered behind the red doors of a courtyard home in central Beijing, emerging only for brief visits to the provinces or to the golf course. Unmarked cars and police were ever-present on the street outside.
The long years of house arrest were "a showcase of shame for Chinese justice and for the Chinese Communist Party itself," Zhao's former aide, Bao Tong, wrote. Bao himself was jailed for seven years in 1989 and remains under close surveillance.
Zhao was accused of splitting the party after opposing the decision of Deng, then China's paramount leader, to crush the Tiananmen protests. He remained a politically sensitive figure amid government fears that his death could spark protests.
On Monday, a mere scattering of tourists, Beijing residents and guards walked in the vast wintry expanse of Tiananmen Square. Irish flags flew to mark a visit by Prime Minister Bertie Ahern.
The successors of a man linked with pushing economic reforms in the early 1980s fear his death could serve as a rallying point for reformers, for workers bitter at high unemployment and for poor farmers envious of wealthy urban residents.
He was never again seen in public after May 19, 1989, when he went to the square and urged student demonstrators to leave. The next day the government declared martial law and the army, backed by tanks, crushed the protests on June 3-4. Hundreds were killed.
Zhao, a farming expert and the son of a landlord, was sacked as party general secretary. Jiang Zemin took his place, ruling for more than a decade before handing over to Hu Jintao in 2002.
China's political and economic landscape has been transformed since 1989, and after years hidden from public view, Zhao remains largely an enigma for younger Chinese.
"The leadership will take precautions anyway, with stepped-up security and surveillance -- they always do," said Kenneth Lieberthal, a China expert at the University of Michigan.
"But will this be a spark for another protest movement? I have no idea. But I would doubt that it would," he said.
NOTHING TO CHANCE
While Zhao's reforms helped give birth to a new middle class, social pressures provided the potential for unrest.
"That was a time the regime was in deep trouble. Now it seems the regime is rather well consolidated," said Andrew Nathan, a China expert at Columbia University.
"But on the other hand, the cities are full of petitioners and migrant workers and laid-off factory workers and pensioners without pensions, so it's a dangerous mix of people who may take the opportunity to remember," said Nathan.
"He stood for something better."
China is leaving nothing to chance.
The government tightened security around the square last week once Zhao's health began to deteriorate. Police and plainclothes agents stopped foreign reporters outside his home.
His successors have reason to fear his posthumous influence.
The death in January 1976 of populist premier Zhou Enlai led to an outpouring of grief and protests on Tiananmen Square. The death of purged reformist party chief Hu Yaobang in April 1989 set off the demonstrations that culminated in the army massacre.
Taiwan cabinet spokesman Chen Chi-mai urged China to learn from Zhao's "spirit of tolerance and to push democratic and political reforms simultaneously and respect different voices in society." Beijing and Taipei have been bitter rivals since Nationalist forces fled to the island after losing the Chinese civil war in 1949.
Beijing's leaders have repeatedly ruled out any shift toward Western-style democracy. Indeed, a news blackout existed even as Zhao's health began to fail.
He was taken to hospital on Dec. 5 for chronic pneumonia and had been in a coma since Friday after multiple strokes.
"He died at 7:01 a.m. (2301 GMT Sunday). The medical report is not out yet," Zhao's son, Liang Fang, who adopted his mother's surname, told Reuters.
"National leaders came to pay respects but it is not convenient to say who they are," Liang said.
Vice President Zeng Qinghong visited the hospital on Monday one hour before Zhao died, Hong Kong-based dissident Frank Lu said in a statement.
Such acts are delicate in China's hierarchy, and indicate the finesse that Zhao's successors must exercise as they decide the level of ceremony with which to salute the passing of a leader who was one of their own without evoking popular anger.
"The thing about him is he never recanted, he never admitted he'd done anything wrong, so that made him an awkward person for the party leadership to deal with," Nathan said.
The official Xinhua news agency confirmed Zhao's death in a terse report, referring to him as "comrade" -- technically leaving room for political rehabilitation at some stage.
But state television and radio were mum.
"This is the end of an era," said Jiang Peikun, husband of retired professor Ding Zilin, whose teenage son was killed in the crackdown. "At present there is no person like him on the Chinese political stage. No one can replace him." (Additional reporting by Tamora Vidaillet, John Ruwitch and Lindsay Beck and Carrie Lee in Hong Kong)
All rights reserved. Users may download and print extracts of content from this website for their own personal and non-commercial use only. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
© Reuters 2005
