Foreign Affairs January / February 2001 (continued)
<<<<<<<
THE ELDERS DISCUSS A SUCCESSOR
On May 21, Deng Xiaoping again convened the party elders,
since the younger generation of leaders seemed unable to
manage.
Excerpts from Party Central Office Secretariat, "Minutes of
important meeting, May 21, 1989," document supplied to Party
Central Office Secretariat for its records by the Office of Deng
Xiaoping:
Deng Xiaoping: ... In the recent turmoil Zhao Ziyang has
exposed his position completely. He obviously stands on the side
of the turmoil, and in practical terms he has been fomenting
division, splitting the Party, and defending turmoil. It's lucky
we're still here to keep a lid on things. Zhao Ziyang stimulated
turmoil, and there's no reason to keep him. Hu Qili is no longer fit
for the Standing Committee, either.
Chen Yun: ... Comrade Xiannian has pointed out to me that
Comrade Jiang Zemin from Shanghai is a suitable candidate.
Every time I've gone down to Shanghai he always sees me, and
he strikes me as a modest person with strong party discipline
and broad knowledge. He gets along well in Shanghai, too.
Li Xiannian: ... I noticed, after the April 26 editorial, that again it
was Shanghai that took the lead in pushing the spirit of Party
Central. Jiang Zemin called a meeting of more than ten thousand
officials the very next day, and he yanked the World Economic
Herald into shape. That was something! That move -- given
what was going on -- put him under tremendous public pressure,
but he stood firm, didn't budge, and stuck to principle.
Then, when the Party, government, and army at the Center
declared martial law, again it was Shanghai that took the lead in
action. This kind of firm attitude's hard to come by. In political
action and party loyalty, Jiang Zemin has been a constant. And
of course, he's got a good knack for economic work. Shanghai's
built a good economic foundation these last few years. ... I like
the idea of him as general secretary.
THE SELECTION OF JIANG ZEMIN
On the night of May 27, Deng Xiaoping and the other seven
elders met for about five hours at Deng's residence to finalize a
successor to Zhao Ziyang as Communist Party general
secretary.
Excerpts from Party Central Office Secretariat, "Minutes of
important meeting, May 27, 1989," document supplied to Party
Central Office Secretariat for its records by the Office of Deng
Xiaoping:
Deng Xiaoping: I've checked with Comrades Chen Yun and
Xiannian, and they completely agree with my view that the new
leadership team must continue to carry out the political line,
principles, and policies of the Third Plenum of the Eleventh
Central Committee. Even the language should stay the same.
The political report of the Thirteenth Party Congress was
approved by all representatives at the time. Not a single word of
it can be changed. The policies of reform and opening must not
change, for several decades; we've got to press them through
to the end. This should be what we expect and require from the
new generation of [Party] Central leadership.
Unless someone objects, I move that the new Standing
Committee of the Politburo be made up of the following six
comrades: Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, Qiao Shi, Yao Yilin, Song Ping,
and Li Ruihuan, with Comrade Jiang Zemin as general secretary.
The motion to appoint Jiang as general secretary and to add Li
and Song to the Standing Committee had been approved by the
elders by a show of hands. But this violated the Chinese
Communist Party Constitution, which stipulates that the
Politburo Standing Committee should make such decisions.
THE ELDERS DECIDE TO CLEAR TIANANMEN SQUARE
On the morning of June 2, party elders Deng Xiaoping, Li
Xiannian, Peng Zhen, Yang Shangkun, Bo Yibo, and Wang Zhen
met with the Standing Committee of the Politburo, which at that
juncture consisted only of Li Peng, Qiao Shi, and Yao Yilin.
Excerpts from Party Central Office Secretariat, "Minutes of
important meeting, June 2, 1989," document supplied to Party
Central Office Secretariat for its records by the Office of Deng
Xiaoping:
Li Peng: Yesterday the Beijing Party Committee and the State
Security Ministry both submitted reports to the Politburo. These
two reports give ample evidence that following the declaration
of martial law a major scheme of the organizers and plotters of
the turmoil has been to occupy Tiananmen Square to serve as a
command center for a final showdown with the Party and
government. The square has become "a center of the student
movement and eventually the entire nation."
Whatever decisions the government makes, strong reactions will
emerge from the Square. It has been determined that, following
the declaration of martial law, events such as putting together a
dare-to-die corps to block the martial law troops, gathering
thugs to storm the Beijing Public Security Bureau, holding press
conferences, and recruiting the Flying Tiger Group to pass
messages around were all plotted in and commanded from the
Square. ...
The reactionary elements have also continued to use the Square
as a center for hatching counterrevolutionary opinion and
manufacturing rumor. Illegal organizations such as the AFS
[Autonomous Federation of Students] and AFW [Autonomous
Federation of Workers] have installed loudspeakers on the
Square and broadcast almost around the clock, attacking party
and state leaders, inciting overthrow of the government, and
repeating over and over distorted reports from [the Voice of
America] and the Hong Kong and Taiwan press.
The reactionary elements believe the government will eventually
crack down if they refuse to withdraw from the square. Their
plot is to provoke conflict and create bloodshed incidents,
clamoring that "blood will awaken the people and cause the
government to split and collapse." A few days ago these
reactionary elements openly erected a so-called goddess statue
in front of the Monument to the People's Heroes. Today they are
planning to launch another hunger strike in the Square.
... When the turmoil began employees of the U.S. embassy
started to collect intelligence aggressively. Some of them are
CIA agents. Almost every day, and especially at night, they
would go and loiter at Tiananmen or at schools such as Peking
University and Beijing Normal. They have frequent contact with
leaders of the AFS and give them advice. The Chinese Alliance
for Democracy, which has directly meddled in this turmoil, is a
tool the United States uses against China. This scum of our
nation, based in New York, has collaborated with the pro-KMT
Chinese Benevolent Association to set up a so-called Committee
to Support the Chinese Democracy Movement. They also gave
money to leaders of the AFS.
As soon as the turmoil started, KMT intelligence agencies in
Taiwan and other hostile forces outside China rushed to send in
agents disguised as visitors, tourists, businessmen, and so on.
They have tried to intervene directly to expand the so-called
democracy movement into an all-out "movement against
communism and tyranny." They have also instructed
underground agents to keep close track of things and to collect
all kinds of information. There is evidence that KMT agents from
Taiwan have participated in the turmoil in Beijing, Shanghai,
Fujian, and elsewhere. ... It is becoming increasingly clear that
the turmoil has been generated by a coalition of foreign and
domestic reactionary forces and that their goals are to
overthrow the Communist Party and to subvert the socialist
system.
Wang Zhen: Those goddamn bastards! Who do they think they
are, trampling on sacred ground like Tiananmen so long?! They're
really asking for it! We should send the troops right now to grab
those counterrevolutionaries, Comrade Xiaoping! What's the
People's Liberation Army for, anyway? What are martial law
troops for? They're not supposed to just sit around and eat!
They're supposed to grab counterrevolutionaries! We've got to
do it or we'll never forgive ourselves! We've got to do it or the
common people will rebel! Anybody who tries to overthrow the
Communist Party deserves death and no burial!
Deng Xiaoping: ... The causes of this incident have to do with
the global context. The Western world, especially the United
States, has thrown its entire propaganda machine into agitation
work and has given a lot of encouragement and assistance to
the so-called democrats or opposition in China -- people who in
fact are the scum of the Chinese nation. This is the root of the
chaotic situation we face today. ... Some Western countries use
things like "human rights," or like saying the socialist system is
irrational or illegal, to criticize us, but what they're really after is
our sovereignty. Those Western countries that play power
politics have no right at all to talk about human rights!
Look how many people around the world they've robbed of
human rights! And look how many Chinese people they've hurt
the human rights of since they invaded China during the Opium
war! ...
Yang Shangkun: The fact that we're going to clear the square,
restore order, and stop the turmoil in no way means that we're
giving up on reform or closing our country off from the world.
Deng Xiaoping: No one can keep China's reform and opening from
going forward. Why is that? It's simple: Without reform and
opening our development stops and our economy slides downhill.
Living standards decline if we turn back. The momentum of
reform cannot be stopped. We must insist on this point at all
times.
Some people say we allow only economic reform and not political
reform, but that's not true. We do allow political reform, but on
one condition: that the Four Basic Principles are upheld. [The
Four Basic Principles are Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong thought,
socialism, the people's democratic dictatorship, and leadership
by the Chinese Communist Party.] ...
Yang Shangkun: Troops have moved into the Great Hall of the
People, Zhongshan Park, the People's Cultural Palace, and the
Public Security Ministry compound. The thinking of all officers
and soldiers has been thoroughly prepared for a clearing of
Tiananmen Square. After nearly half a month of political thought
work, all officers and soldiers have deepened their understanding
of the severity and complexity of this struggle and have
comprehended the necessity and the legality of martial law.
Li Peng: I strongly urge that we move immediately to clear
Tiananmen Square and that we resolutely put an end to the
turmoil and the ever expanding trouble.
Qiao Shi: The facts show that we can't expect the students on
the Square to withdraw voluntarily. Clearing the square is our
only option, and it's quite necessary. I hope our announcement
about clearing will meet with approval and support from the
majority of citizens and students. Clearing the Square is the
beginning of a restoration of normal order in the capital.
Deng Xiaoping: I agree with all of you and suggest the martial
law troops begin tonight to carry out the clearing plan and finish
it within two days. As we proceed with the clearing, we must
explain it clearly to all the citizens and students, asking them to
leave and doing our very best to persuade them. But if they
refuse to leave, they will be responsible for the consequences.
>>>>>>> continue
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