Disgraced Politburo member Chen Xitong was reluctant to talk about the past for fear of political repercussions until scholar Yao Jianfu mentioned a conversation he had with purged leader Zhao Ziyang.
Yao, 80, said the interviews he had with Chen happened by chance and they had both worried that publishing the book could land them in trouble. But Yao, a former central government adviser, said he eventually decided to go ahead because he felt obliged to tell the public the true story.
'We are both in our 80s,' he said. 'We have never thought to overthrow the party or the government throughout our lives. What we want to do is simply to restore the truth and set the record straight. I think our current leaders are wise. A harmonious society should tolerate that.'
Yao said he was asked by a writer friend to deliver a book to Chen last year. The writer published a biography in which he recalled how Chen helped him during difficult times and asked Yao to take a copy to Chen.
Yao said Chen was at first reluctant to bring up the past until Yao mentioned a conversation in March 2004 with late Communist Party general secretary Zhao (pictured), who was purged after the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
Yao asked Zhao if Chen, Beijing's mayor at the time, and Li Ximing, the capital's then party secretary, had deceived late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping into making a wrong decision to send the People's Liberation Army into the square. Zhao said he did not believe that because 'Deng wouldn't be Deng if he could be easily tricked'.