Book that airs Zhao’s views spooks Beijing, says author

Beijing is desperately trying to prevent publication of a book
that outlines a plea by the late Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang
for China to abandon one-party rule and move towards democracy.

It also airs Zhao’s opinion that the Chinese government
blundered in its crackdown on the 1989 democracy protests that led
to hundreds, if not thousands, of citizens being killed, said the
author, Zong Fengming.

The sensitive manuscript led to the arrest of the Hong Kong
reporter of Singapore’s The Straits Times, Ching Cheong, who
was detained while trying to obtain a copy.

The manuscript has not been seen outside mainland China.

Zong, 85, was a party official and an old friend of Zhao. He
compiled the work from conversations with Zhao while he was under
house arrest. Zong is under pressure from the Chinese authorities
not to publish the book.

What made the manuscript so threatening, he said, was Zhao’s
belief that China must have democracy to prosper, and that economic
changes were not enough.

"He said China’s development must be on the path of democracy
and rule of law. If not, China will be a corrupt society," Zong
said.

"He believed China’s economic reforms need democracy, otherwise
they will not work. He believed if there were no political reforms
it would bitterly disappoint the people."

Zhao was purged in 1989 for opposing the decision to use force
to quell the six-week-long, unprecedented Tiananmen Square
democracy protests that year. He spent the rest of his life under
house arrest and died in January.

Zong was one of the few people who had access to Zhao at his
tightly guarded compound in Beijing. He believes the government
fears that if a book about Zhao’s views is published overseas and
copies find their way back to China, it could have a detrimental
effect on the legitimacy of the communist regime, making Zhao a
hero, even in death.

"They are afraid his influence will be broadened," Zong
said.

He said Zhao argued that contrary to the government’s insistence
that there was no alternative but to use force in 1989, the
government had many chances to avoid bloodshed.

Zong is determined to get his manuscript published.

"They [the Chinese authorities] want people to forget Zhao
Ziyang. In my view, the purging of Zhao Ziyang is China’s sorrow.
Because of this, we did not go down the path of democracy," Zong
said.

■ A sociologist and an official at China’s top government
think tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, have been
detained on suspicion of leaking state secrets, three independent
sources have said.

Agence France-Presse, Reuters