So Zhao Ziyang’s died. I was involved in Chinese dissident publishing around the time of Tiananmen and I remember the general sense of optimism that surrounded the early days of the demonstrations in 1989. Then on May 19, Zhao turned up to address the students. When he told them that he had “come too late” it was the first real indication of what was about to happen.
Zhao was referring specifically to his visit to North Korea. He’d also been kept busy with Gorbachev’s trip and with a session of the Asian Development Bank. But his statement carried darker hints. As the CPC’s main advocate of the kind of reforms the demonstrators were demanding, he’d been away from Zhongnanhai for the crucial period when the protests built up momentum and hardline party elders were debating what to do about it. We all saw what they decided on June 4. By the time he saw them, there was nothing for the Tiananamen protestors to do but get out of the way before then, or stay where they were to be crushed, something that he tried to make clear to them without spelling things out. From The Tiananmen Papers:
Knowing his political career was near its end, Zhao made remarks that brought tears to the eyes of those who heard him. “We have come too late” he said and he begged the students to protect their health, end their hunger strike and leave the square. The demands they reaised would be dealt with, he was sure…but that would take time. “We demonstrated and lay across railroad tracks when we were young, too, with no thought for the future” he told the students. “But I have to ask you to think carefully about the future. Many issues will be resolved eventually…”Zhao was exhausted and his doctors urged him to rest. That morning he requested sick leave…
…and ended up under house arrest for fourteen and a half years.
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