Chinese dissidents grieve for Zhao Ziyang-- he refused to crush Tiananmen protest
AFP
Chinese dissidents grieve for Zhao Ziyang-- he refused to crush Tiananmen protest
Zhao Ziyang
Overseas dissidents Monday mourned the death of 85-year-old ousted leader Zhao Ziyang, saying he should be remembered for his contributions to China's economic development and for sacrificing his political career by opposing the crackdown on the 1989 Tiananmen democracy protests.
"We feel sad that China has lost one of its greatest reformers since 1949 who advocated the rule of law and democracy and insisted on the peaceful dealing with the pro-democracy uprising in 1989," said Shengde Lian, former student protest leader and head of the New York-based Free China Movement.
"Zhao had the courage to stand up against the bloody crackdown though he knew that he would lose his own political future," he said in a statement.
"During his 15 years of house arrest he openly advocated that there must be political reform toward
¤uring his 15 years of house arrest he openly advocated that there must be political reform toward the rule of law and democracy ... Zhao will be remembered as a true democrat and a man with principle.?/font>
the rule of law and democracy ... Zhao will be remembered as a true democrat and a man with principle."
Zhao served as prime minister and head of the ruling Communist Party during the 1980s. His economic reform policies are widely credited for China's 25 years of robust economic growth.
He died in a Beijing hospital early Monday morning.
Other leading overseas dissidents also mourned the loss of Zhao, including Wu Guoguang, a former Zhao aide who went into exile following the 1989 crackdown and now teaches Chinese politics at the University of Victoria in Canada.
"I'm very sad, today I cry for my leader and for my country," Wu told AFP.
"If China had done the things that Zhao Ziyang suggested, then it would be a much better off place and economic prosperity would be shared by more people ?as it was in the early 1980s with his rural reforms."
Xu Jiatun, a former Communist Party Central Committee member who defected after the crackdown, also paid tribute to Zhao's policies that transformed China's economy.
"Ziyang has passed away, we mourn him," Xu said in a posting on the overseas Chinese website, Duowei.
"Ziyang is one of the main founders of China's reform and opening. The Chinese people and history will never forget the contributions he made."
Xu, also a former governor of Jiangsu province, defected from his post in 1990 as head of Xinhua news agency in Hong Kong which at the time was China's de facto embassy in the former British colony.
AFP
http://www.journal.com.ph/news.asp?pid=2&sid=15&nid=19557&month=1&day=18&year=2005
(01/18/2005 22:42)