Margaret Thatcher sought meeting with ousted liberal Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang in 1991, declassified files show
- Iron Lady was admirer of former Chinese premier, who fell from grace after opposing Tiananmen crackdown in 1989
Former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher sought a meeting with ousted liberal Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang during her visit to China in 1991, according to recently declassified British files.
The Iron Lady was an admirer of the ex-Chinese premier, who was forced out after opposing the Tiananmen crackdown. The two leaders signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong’s future in Beijing in December 1984.
After the incident on June 4, 1989, which saw hundreds, possibly more than a thousand killed, Zhao was deposed by paramount leader Deng Xiaoping and party conservatives for allegedly “splitting the party” and “supporting unrest” – accusations he firmly denied.
He was placed under house arrest, where he was to spend most of the next 16 years until his death in 2005 at the age of 85.
In a note written on September 12, 1991, then British ambassador to China Robin McLaren wrote that during her 36-hour visit to China, Thatcher had meetings with Chinese leaders, including then Chinese president Jiang Zemin, premier Li Peng and vice-president Rong Yiren.