Book reveals security move after June 4 crackdown

The Communist Party leadership decided to strengthen its security apparatus shortly after the June 4 military crackdown on the pro-democracy movement in 1989, according to a new book by a former top legislator.

The leadership decided to resume the Central Commission of Politics and Legal Affairs in early 1990, which had been downgraded to the 'central leading group on politics and legal affairs' two years earlier, in an effort to accommodate the social changes wrought by the demonstrations, according to Qiao Shi , the No 3 official at the time.

The commission, under the party's Central Committee, oversees all the nation's law-enforcement authorities, including the police, making it a very powerful body.

The revelation is contained in a book of 102 speeches by the retired leader on Chinese democracy and rule of law written between 1985 and 1998, which was released on Wednesday. The book contains nothing particularly politically sensitive, including any mention of the June 4 crackdown, but its publication at this time has attracted the attention of China watchers.

Qiao, born in 1924, was chairman of the National People's Congress Standing Committee between 1993 and 1998. He was seen as a rival of former president Jiang Zemin in the late 1980s and '90s.

In the past few years, several top retired leaders including Jiang, former premier Zhu Rongji and Qiao's successor, Li Peng, have published books - a sign, analysts say, that these leaders still wield influence ahead of this autumn's key Communist Party Congress with its once-in-a-decade succession of leadership.

Hu Xingdou , an economics professor at Beijing Institute of Technology, said Qiao's book aimed to press the current leadership to push forward with policies that promote political reform and the rule of law at the party congress.