Deng’s Daughter Says Power Has Shifted From Her Father In Paris Promoting Book, Deng Maomao Says `Destiny Of China’ In Hands Of Team Of Successors

China’s destiny is already in the hands of Deng Xiaoping’s successors, the Chinese leader’s daughter said Saturday. But she said her father was in good health for a 91-year-old.

Deng Maomao, also known as Deng Rong, said she hoped foreign nations would begin to shift their attention more to her father’s successors. She spoke after arriving in Paris to promote her book, “Deng Xiaoping My Father.”

“He is 91 years old. He is in good health. Obviously he is aging,” she said in an interview on state-run television.

“If he were in very bad health, I would not have been able to come” to Paris, she said. She spoke in Chinese, with a French translation superimposed.

Asked why Deng did not appear on television for the lunar New Year, as is customary, she said he did not “because there is already a team of successors … who are entering a transition period of (China’s) political direction. Mr. Deng is already retired.

“The destiny of China is now in the hands of the new team. … I hope our foreign friends can show more concern for the new team.”

Though he retired in 1989, Deng is widely believed to retain great influence behind the scenes. His failure to appear on television for the lunar New Year on Tuesday underscored questions about his health.

In an interview last month with The New York Times, Deng’s daughter said her father was ailing and unable to walk, causing concern in foreign capitals about the Chinese leadership. She later backtracked in favor of softer wording about her father’s health, in line with the government’s approach.

Deng Maomao stressed “the rules of nature” in speaking of her father’s health, as she did in a brief interview with Agence France-Presse, the French news agency. “It is impossible that he becomes younger and younger. He will become older and older,” the agency quoted her as saying.

Deng Maomao is scheduled to come to the United States on Feb. 10.

Her book covers the first 45 year’s of her father’s life, including a five-year stay in Paris when he “opted for Communism.” She said that period proved “a very important influence” in his career.

A second book that will deal with contemporary China is planned, she said.