A new book by a close ally of the late top leader Zhao Ziyang claims the ousted party general secretary thought his successors had obstructed nascent political reform and put China onto a path of corruption after he was toppled in the wake of the Tiananmen crackdown. In the book, Du Daozheng gives a vivid recollection of dozens of conversations he had with Zhao. Du is the former chief of the General Administration of Press and Publications - one of the mainland's censors. The book, What else has Zhao Ziyang said? The diary of Du Daozheng, was published yesterday. Zhao was kept under house arrest for nearly 16 years after the 1989 crackdown for sympathising with students. Du was one of four retired reform-minded officials who helped Zhao secretly record his memoirs before his death in 2005 while still under house arrest. The memoirs, Prisoner of the State, were published last year. Du's book covers some of the same ground as Prisoner of the State but also details about 30 interviews the author had with Zhao at a time when he was barred from leaving his home or sometimes even meeting guests. Their conversations, which took place between 1992 and 2000, mainly covered Zhao's views on China's political situation, including his opinion of his successor Jiang Zemin , and his views on Tibet and Hong Kong. According to Du, Zhao blamed Jiang's Theory of the Three Represents for stalling the country's political reform process. The theory basically holds that the Communist Party represents 'advanced productive forces, advanced culture and the interests of the broad masses'. 'Comrade Jiang Zemin's Three Represents is aimed at obstructing political reforms,' Du quoted Zhao as saying. 'It is like saying, I, the Chinese Communist Party represents [all elite forces in society] and the people's long-term interest. This is creating a theoretical basis for one-party dictatorship. I think this person [Jiang] has no sense of mission.' Du's book does not contain any comments from Zhao on President Hu Jintao's leadership because Du was barred from seeing Zhao from 2001, one year before Hu assumed power. Zhao, who was China's premier for seven years, also condemned the emergence of what he saw as crony capitalism, rampant corruption and social inequality after political reforms stalled in 1989. 'A privileged bureaucratic clique has been formed in China. They draw from their privileges, hold on to power and money. Everything is working towards their benefit so they don't like political reform,' he was quoted as saying. According to Du, Zhao also castigated the leadership for monopolising political power after the crackdown, fearing this would lead to more social conflict and instability. Zhao noted Beijing had resorted to suppressing public opinion, denied the people's right to form political parties and organisations and mobilised the military and police to crack down on challenges to its power. 'The present political situation is economically free but politically repressed,' he was quoted as saying. 'They only want fast development but ignore fairness and equality ... Officials use their political power to seek to get rich ... You can extend your rule like this but conflicts will accumulate and, in the end, it will explode.' He believed the anti-corruption drives under such a political system were bound to fail. Indeed, at almost every congress meeting in recent years, the leadership has promised to crack down on corruption - a major source of discontent among ordinary Chinese. 'If you don't carry out political reform, if the system is not fair and transparent, anti-corruption drives will turn into tools of internal factional fights,' Zhao was quoted as saying. Zhao also worried that by refusing to allow citizens to participate in political activities, the regime was creating dangerous instability. 'If we don't encourage opposition parties now, when [the current regime] collapses, there will be chaos. This is most dangerous, but the central leadership hasn't considered this and they don't want to think about it,' Du quoted Zhao as saying. Du's diary also detailed his worries about the safety of the audiotapes that were the basis of Zhao's memoirs. Three copies were made - one was kept at Zhao's home while he and another friend of Zhao kept the other two. One of Du's daughters took his copy to Hong Kong in 2003 and kept it in a security firm's safe. Du told the South China Morning Post that he believed his book would help steer China towards reforms. 'This will have the effect of promoting [political] reform in China. Whether people agree or disagree with it, it will be good for people to talk about it,' he said in a phone interview. 'Reform and advancement is a world trend ... and Zhao represents this voice,' he said. 'There are still many conservative voices but on the whole, China is progressing.' The world according to Zhao Ziyang On learning from Hong Kong (January 6, 1993) Corruption is pervading our party and the inherent mechanism of [the one-party system] provides no effective way to combat it. I think we should conduct a good study of Hong Kong?s governing model. Hong Kong has been under British rule for many years, but the British government gives Hong Kong people considerable political democracy and freedom. [The Hong Kong people] have various channels to keep tabs on British government power, including a multiparty system, a legislative council and a free media ? a set of checks and balances prevents government officials from abusing their power. On Tibet (April 5, 1996) The best way to handle Tibet is to give them enough leeway and autonomy, as long as they don?t declare independence. The Tibet case is very special and unique, much more so than the cases of Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia; in the latter places, Han people outnumber minority people, but in Tibet it?s the other way around. We should refrain from interfering [in their business] as long as they acknowledge being part of China. On capitalism (April 14, 1993) Yes, there are discontented people in rich capitalist countries, but people can live with [discontentment] and wouldn?t want to overthrow the regime. Capitalism has advanced to a level ? so that it can self-correct, self-regulate and self-perfect. People who hold grudges [against the government] can get it out by gathering, protesting and getting it published in the press, and the government would listen.
