Already elderly and under house-arrest, cunning former Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang (1919-2005) had little to lose by making a series of voice-recordings. His remarks became a highly forthright book, Prisoner of the State, The Secret Journal of Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang (2009, Simon and Schuster, 306 pages). If his suggestions were implemented, China's 1.3 billion people would be the big winners.
Past and present officials in the all-powerful Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seldom have opportunities or inclinations to express opinions and grievances worldwide. Usually, a thick bamboo curtain surrounds everything about the CCP. The surprisingly progressive Zhao tears down much of that curtain.
An economic reformer, Zhao also sought political changes by battling (hopelessly) against immovable conservative forces. As he learned, most prominent players in the CCP had mastered power-grabs, double-crosses and other political combat.
Ultimately, Zhao lost favor in high places for showing sympathy to tens of thousands of student protesters who clogged Beijing's streets in 1989. Repeatedly, he argued for dialogue and against unleashing the military on unarmed students.
“If the student demonstrations could be resolved along the principles of democracy and law, through dialogue and an easing of tensions, it could possibly boost China's reform, including political reform. On the other hand, if we were to suppress the demonstrations with violence… conservatives would make a comeback and reform programs would come to a standstill or even be reversed. Chinese history would go through another period of zigzagging. The two approaches promised to result in two totally different outcomes.”
Others made the fateful decision, and thousands of innocent people died in the Beijing Massacre on June 4, 1989. Zhao's rivals placed him under house-arrest, and he spent most of his final 16 years confined at home in Beijing.
Having suffered injustice and with ample time to ponder, Zhao's ideas advanced rapidly.
“The democratic systems of our socialist nations are all just superficial; they are not systems in which the people are in charge, but rather are ruled by a few or even a single person…. In fact, it is the Western parliamentary democratic system that has demonstrated the most vitality. This system is currently the best one available. It is able to manifest the spirit of democracy and meet the demands of a modern society, and it is a relatively mature system….
“We should not rush to copy wholesale (a new political system) all at once. However, we must march toward this goal, and absolutely should not move in the opposite direction.”
Zhao shares candid opinions about other leaders with whom he worked. For example, paramount leader Deng Xiaoping often talked of political reforms. Did he mean it?
“I believe Deng was somewhat dissatisfied with the existing political system. His belief in political reform was genuine. But the reform he had in mind was not a modernization and democratization of politics. It was rather a kind of administrative reform, the kind of reform that only involved specific regulations, organization, methodology, and general morale…. Deng's creed was not only that the ruling status of the Communist Party should never be challenged; he also adored the high concentration of power and dictatorship and believed they should be retained. Therefore, the democracy that he talked about, the removal of special status for the leadership and the cleansing of feudal influences, could never be realized. They were no more than empty words.”
The book contains some annoying repetition as Zhao reiterates who among his fellow leaders said what and when. But that's easily forgivable considering the constraints he faced and how faithfully the editors recreated his words.
Repetition never ranked as Zhao's big problem. Secretly, he recorded about 30 one-hour tapes, acting behind the backs of the people assigned to “watch” him. He slipped some cassettes to friends, never all to the same person, fearing confiscation. After his death, another set of tapes turned up, hidden in plain sight among his grandchildren’s toys.
Finally, the recordings were smuggled overseas to a leading publisher. Three people, human-rights activist Bao Pu, publisher/editor Renee Chiang and journalist Adi Ignatius, did the translating and editing.
Any book that shines such a bright light into dark corners of China's government, while defying and annoying its dictators, deserves high praise. Honestly, Prisoner of the State may be the most important book so far in the 21st century.
Approval rating: 96 per cent.
For more information: www.simonandschuster.co.uk
(June 17, 2009)
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