by Richard S. Ehrlich
BEIJING, China -- One of the first victims of the ruthless crackdown against the pro-democracy movement was a bespectacled Chinese leader who wept in solidarity with the students, was cursed by government hardliners, and then mysteriously disappeared amid the chaos, bloodshed and jockeying for power.
Copyright by Richard S. Ehrlich
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June 1989
Chinese Leader Who Wept in Solidary Becomes Victim of Tiananmen
Communist Party General Secretary Zhou Ziyang (pronounced: "JAOW tzee-YUNG") is expected to one day surface again only to meet his doom.
If Zhou had succeeded in his private quest, an estimated 1,000 pro-democracy supporters might not have been slaughtered by the People's Liberation Army when tanks, armored personnel carriers and soldiers moved to recapture Tiananmen Square on June 4.
Zhou's real motive for attempting to open a dialogue between the students and China's hardline leaders is a kept secret behind the ceramic-topped red walls of Zhongnanhai, where the government's most powerful rulers live and work next to Beijing's Forbidden City.
Some diplomats however praise Zhou as an "urbane" and "experimental yet cautious" politician who tried to prevent spilling Chinese blood.
Others suspect the Communist Party loyalist was sinisterly using the students as volatile pawns in a preliminary battle to become the nation's top leader when Deng Xiaoping, 84, passes from the scene.
Zhou apparently took a gamble and lost out to hardliners Deng, Premier Li Peng and others who now control this nation's one billion people with a military-backed fist.
"Zhou wanted to keep a dialogue open between the government and the students," one Western analyst said. "That was the most logical step.
"Zhou figured if he talked to the students he could defuse the crisis.
"He wasn't going to slap Deng and Li in the face and go it alone. He simply saw Deng and Li on one side, and the students on the other, and thought maybe he could talk to all of them and break the deadlock."
Several diplomats said the popular uprising in Tiananmen Square -- which demanded greater political freedom -- was something Zhou favored, while Deng and Soviet-educated Li wanted economic reform without allowing basic human rights.
"Tiananmen Square was a reflection of Zhou's line of political struggle," an East European diplomat said. "Deng was not pleased with the students, so he took Li's side against Zhou.
"Deng thought the students were questioning his personal policies and accusing him. But Zhou might have overestimated the students' ability to change things."
Though much attention has fixed on Zhou, Deng and Li, they are only the tip of huge power struggles which are continuing to divide and paralyze China.
The bigger forces include demands and splits within the military, how many capitalist-style reforms should be permitted amid spiraling inflation, and the hopes for liberty among the impoverished, heavily policed masses who are frustrated because they have no voice in determining their own lives.
These divisions and demands collided on Tiananmen Square because they coincided with the students' spontaneous demonstration, and the simultaneous competition among political leaders to be next in line after Deng, Western diplomats say.
Ironically, Deng handpicked Zhou as his successor.
But many diplomats suspect Li, President Yang Shangku, State Security Chief Qiao Shi and other anti-Zhou officials saw Tiananmen Square as an opportunity to smear Zhou and oust him from the hierarchy.
"Chinese officials who belong to Li's circle accused Zhou of trying to use the students for his own purpose," the East European diplomat added.
"We don't know their secret lives, but Zhou apparently believed the students' movement might facilitate a decision in the Communist Party to start reforming the political structure.
"But the students took his visit to the square as a way to pacify them, and that's why they continued to protest."
The envoy was referring to Zhou's last dramatic appearance on May 19 when he suddenly visited Tiananmen Square and, weeping, told stunned students, "I came too late, too late.
"We deserve your criticism but are not here to ask your forgiveness," Zhou said, signing his name on the clothing of student hunger strikers.
Li however out-maneuvered Zhou and declared martial law, gained the support of the military to assault Beijing, and eventually received Deng's public blessing for crushing the pro-democracy movement.
The movement has since been officially denounced as "riots" by "counterrevolutionaries."
Zhou is expected to be publicly blamed for the uprising and punished soon.
The Chinese government however appears to be still squabbling, and thus has not officially decided on how to treat Zhou, though it has indirectly denounced him for displaying a split in the party and fueling the crisis.
Deng, meanwhile, remains a mystery to many diplomats.
Though Deng congratulated the army for slaughtering the demonstrators, many Western envoys are still trying to determine why he failed for two months to quell the protests.
"Deng and some of the senior guys were not sure who was loyal to them, including which military units, and all that had to be sorted out," one Western China-watcher said.
"A lot of guys probably stayed in the middle waiting to see which side would win because they just wanted to save their jobs."
One Western diplomat said Zhou may have gone to Tiananmen Square because "Li and the others were pointing to it as proof of greater instability sweeping China and thus demanding a slowing down of the economic reforms.
"If Zhou did nothing, Li would've used it for all it was worth and build up his own position," the envoy said.
"As it turned out, Zhou is now being blamed for all the problems, and Li's supporters are saying all this trouble came about because Zhou favored much too rapid economic and political reforms.
"Deng and others in the leadership over-estimated their ability to allow foreign investment, technology and a freer economy, and at the same time control freer thinking and liberalization among the masses," the diplomat added.
The pro-democracy movement, however, was not a Zhou-inspired plot.
It enjoyed its own momentum, and accelerated because the government was infighting and did not clear the square immediately, the envoys said.
Zhou's fate is still unclear.
Some predict he may undergo "self-criticism" but be allowed to remain in the Politburo, because the government needs his moderate supporters to give an appearance of unity.
Others say he might be reduced to become a Central Committee member with little real power, but be symbolically trotted out to heal current and future rifts.
Worst-case scenarios include public humiliation, a possible trial, or imprisonment to intimidate his many provincial-based followers who favor the advantages his rapid economic liberalization plans brought, and are inspired by his sympathy for greater political reform.
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