|
|
Article: China's reform consumes one of its creators. (ouster of Communist Party chief Hu Yaobang)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- January 26, 1987
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1987 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
China's reform consumes one of its creators
The unwritten law is as old as governmentand bureaucracy: When things go wrong, someone takes the fall. What went wrong in China was the translation of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms into agitation for democracy by students and intellectuals. The someone who took the fall last week was Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang, Deng's heir apparent.
Hu's forced resignation as generalsecretary, with abject self-criticism for overzealousness in liberalization, was the high poing so far of a crackdown on dissent. When the unrest forced an official choice between a rush to liberalization and orthodoxy, orthodoxy won. ...