Posted on 01/24/2005 12:23:11 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Family wants fair appraisal for Zhao
BEIJING (Reuters) - The bereaved family of China's purged Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang wants the authorities to give him a posthumous fair appraisal in his funeral eulogy, sources close to his children have said.
Zhao was toppled and accused of committing "grave mistakes" by splitting the party after he opposed sending in troops to crush the student-led Tiananmen Square demonstrations for democracy on June 3-4, 1989. He staunchly refused to admit fault.
"The family hopes to have a fair appraisal," one source who spoke on condition of anonymity told Reuters on Monday. "They feel it is unfair to conclude that he committed grave mistakes."
His family has sought in consultations with the government to ensure proper funeral honours and due respect for the deposed former party chief and premier, who died in a Beijing hospital on January 17 at the age of 85 after almost 16 years of house arrest.
Nervous that publicity about Zhao could spark protests, the authorities plan a scaled-down funeral -- a simplified ceremony instead of an elaborate memorial service more in keeping with the stature of a man who once led the party and the government.
No funeral date has been set because discussions between the family and the General Office of the party's elite Central Committee have been fraught.
"They're deadlocked," said a second source who asked not to be identified. Differences focus on the content of the eulogy.
The official Xinhua news agency merely referred to Zhao as "comrade" in a terse report the day he died with no mention of his titles or achievements. Zhao had introduced market-oriented reforms that helped to transform China into a fledgling economic powerhouse from a centrally controlled backwater.
Whatever the eulogy says, or omits, Zhao's political ghost will haunt a party that has monopolised politics in the world's most populous nation since the 1949 revolution.
CHILDREN SUPPORTIVE
The views of his family were open. Calligraphy on a white mourning banner from Zhao's children hanging on a wall in Zhao's study read: "It's our honour to be your sons and daughter. Supporting your decision is our unchanged choice."
The room in his Beijing courtyard home has been turned into a mourning hall for close friends and relatives to pay respects.
The leadership had silenced Zhao and sought to erase him from public memory and have long feared his death could trigger memories of his stand on Tiananmen Square and spark unrest by disgruntled jobless workers and poor farmers envious of wealthy urban residents.
Party liberals and democracy campaigners have urged the government to give Zhao a posthumous rehabilitation. That would seem unlikely with a new generation of leaders still consolidating power and vested interests that could be offended.
The current leadership under party chief Hu Jintao is likely to cling to one-party rule and stick with economic reform while skirting political change.
Newspapers have played down Zhao's death, while state television and radio have ignored his passing altogether. Media coverage of the funeral is likely to be restricted.
In another sign of official nervousness, the People's Liberation Army has ordered officers and men not to pay respects at Zhao's home or to attend the funeral, a military source said.
Some in the PLA had sided with Zhao when the party split in 1989 over the decision to use force to end the Tiananmen protests.
Universities in the Chinese capital have been told to be on alert for possible student protests.
"Teachers have been told to take turns and be on duty. Students have been told to focus on their studies and stay out of trouble," said a university student who requested anonymity.
Ping!
bump
Good post, but I wonder of much the wishes of the next of kin carrying in their system?
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BTW, did you know John Kerry was in Vietnam?
This is the problem. Why should they care what the communists who purged him say? Why do they think the communists putting out a statement changing their mind about Zhao would make anything better.
Being held as a bad guy by the communists is a badge of honor not shame.
They see it as shame.
Always remember less than a month after the massacre Brent Scowcroft was in Beijing assuring Li Peng we supported them.
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