Look Back At Tiananmen Square Asked Ousted Communist Party Chief’s Letter Circulated Informally

A Communist Party chief ousted for sympathizing with pro-democracy protesters appealed Monday for a reassessment of the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstration.

A letter by former party General Secretary Zhao Ziyang was circulated informally among delegates at a weeklong party congress, a source with party ties said.

Accounts of the letter varied. Hong Kong and Taiwan media reported that Zhao asked party leaders to reassess the official verdict on the student-led democracy movement as subversive, a term used to justify the June 4, 1989, military crackdown that killed hundreds if not thousands of demonstrators.

Party elders ousted Zhao shortly before the army swept in on the students. He reportedly had been reluctant to use troops against the protesters.

A spokesman for the congress denied it had received such a letter.

“With regard to the question of June 4th, our party and our government have already made the right judgment,” Xu Guangchun told reporters.

The party source said Zhao, under house arrest since his ousting, asked to be allowed to resume working for the party. Under his hand in the 1980s, China pioneered many of the liberal market reforms that have enriched many Chinese.

A reassessment of the 1989 protests and crackdown would speed Zhao’s rehabilitation. His return to work would be read as partial justice by many Chinese resentful of the crackdown and the lack of government accountability.

Either way, Zhao’s presence complicates General Secretary Jiang Zemin’s task of engineering a successful party congress. The meeting, held once every five years to map out policies and give choice posts to the powerful, is Jiang’s first without Deng Xiaoping, the senior leader who died in February.

Any debate on Zhao or the 1989 crackdown would be tricky for Jiang and damaging to Premier Li Peng, a close ally. Li ordered martial law, presaging the military assault. Jiang is not associated with the clampdown but he got Zhao’s job of Communist Party chief in the politicking that followed.

“June 4th has nothing to do with Jiang Zemin,” the source , referring to the crackdown. “But he is the main leader now. If he does not resolve this problem, it will become his problem.”

Party elders reportedly have urged discussion of Zhao’s letter, Taiwan’s China Times Express and Hong Kong’s Apple Daily reported.

As with all important party decisions, much of the congress’s work takes place behind closed doors in unannounced meetings. The has been no mention of leadership changes in the state-run media.

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