5TH LD: Ex-Chinese communist leader Zhao dies at 85

0 Comments | Asian Political News, Jan 18, 2005

Zhao's sympathizers say it is hard to predict what kind of public reaction will follow. Yu, his former secretary, anticipated private discussion of his death among dissidents and writers but nothing for the general public to see.

''You can't talk about him, because it concerns the June 4 problem,'' he said.

Leading political scientist Johnny Lau at the Chinese University in Hong Kong said Zhao's death is unlikely to change the political situation in China.

''Zhao has left China's political scene for over 15 years. The social atmosphere is different now from in the 1980s,'' he said.

He said that whether social unrest breaks out depends on two factors -- ''first, the evaluation of Zhao by the Chinese leadership, and secondly, whether the Chinese leadership can react sensibly to the memorial activities organized by the public, including the demand for political reforms.''

A human rights organization said that 20 Chinese leaders representing the Communist party, the government and the military have prepared a letter requesting the posthumous rehabilitation of Zhao.

The 20 cadres are also calling for a formal mourning ceremony, according to a statement from the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy in Hong Kong, which got the information from Zhao's family.

They will send the letter to the central government, the information center said.

''They are requesting that Zhao be rehabilitated,'' the statement says. ''They are requesting that the central government use the rules regarding state leaders to give Zhao a formal and open mourning ceremony.''

The government, not the family, decides how Zhao will be memorialized and how to dispose of his body, the information center's statement says. But, it says, no one from the government has officially notified the family, including Zhao's 86-year-old and ailing wife Liang Boqi, about what will happen.

The information center added that Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong visited him in the hospital at 6 a.m.