:
GRS 1000
RESTRICTED
FM PEKING
TO IMMEDIATE FCO
TELNO 854
OF 210615Z MAY 86
RESTRICTED
ANFO PRIORITY HONG KONG, WASHINGTON, MOSCOW, TOKYO
MY TELNOS. 661, 751: VISIT BY HU YAOBANG:
PERSONALITY NOTE.
1. HU YAOBANG HAS HAD A CHEQUERED CAREER SINCE 1980, WHEN HE JOINED THE STANDING COMMITTEE OF THE POLARTBURO AND BECASE GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. ALTHOUGH WIDELY REGARDED AS DENG XIAOPING'S CHOSEN SUCCESSOR, HE HAS FAILED TO DEVELOP A REPUTATION AS A COMMANDING, STATESMAN-LIIKE FIGURE, LARGELY DUE TO HIS LACK OF GRAVITY AND HIS EXUBERANT STYLE OF SPEECHMAKING. HE HAS A TENDENCY TO MAKE STATEMENTS WHICH NEED SUBSEQUENT QUALIFICATION AND THOS HAS DETRACTED FROM HAS AUTHORITY. MANY ORDINARY CHINESE PEOPLE DO NOT CONSIDER THAT HE HAS THE DIGNITY PROPER TO A TOP LEADER. HIS SWIFT RMSE FROM THE SECONDARY RANKS OF THE PARTY TO ITS LEADING POSITION ALSO COUNTS AGAINST HIM IN THE EYES OF SOME SENIOR PARTY FIGURES HE HAS OVER-LEAPED IN THE HIERARCHY. NONETHELESS, HU S A SHREWD POLITICIAN AND HAS MADE THE MOST OF THE CONSIDÉRABLE ASSETS AT HIS DISPOSAL TO CONSOLIDATE HIS POSITION. HE HAS OVERCOME SEVERAL DIFFICULT MOMENTS., AND HE NOW APPEARS MORE SECURE THAN EVER.
2. HU'S GREATEST ASSET IS UNDOUBTEDLY THE SUPPORT OF DENG XIAOPHING (WITHOUT WHICH HE COULD NOT HAVE ATTAINED THE PARTY'S LEADING OFFICE). THE ASSOCIATION MAY HAVE BEGUN AS EARLY AS THE LATE 1940'S WHEN HỦ SERVED AS A POLITICAL OFFICER WN THE SECOND FIELD ARMY, OF WHICH DENG WAS POLITICAL COMMISSAR. THEY WORKED TOGETHER CLOSELY HN THE 1950'S AND 1960'S, WHEN HU AND DENG RESPECTIVELY HEADED THE COMMUNIST YOUTH LEAGUE AND PARTY SECRETARIATS. DURING THE DIFFICULT TIME OF DENG'S STRUGGLE WITH THE GANG OF FOUR IN THE MID-SEVENTIES, HU WAS ONE OF HIS PRINCIPAL LIEUTENANTS AND HELPED DRAFT MANY IMPORT-ANT POLICY DOCUMENTS. BY THE END OF THE DECADE, DENG MUST HAVE HAD A VERY CLEAR NDEA OF HU'S STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES. SPECULATION THAT DENG MAY HAVE REGRETTED HIS APPARENT CHOICE OF SUCCESSOR SHOULD BE SEEN IN THIS LIGHT., THERE ARE NO REAL SIGNS THAT HE HAS WAVERED AN HAS SUPPORT FOR HU.
3. DENG'S CHOICE OF HU MAY HAVE BEEN BASED ON AN APPRECIATION OF HOW USUEFUL HU'S ENERGY AND NO-NONSENSE APPROACH WOULD BE IN SHAKING UP A POLITICAL SYSTEM SUFFERING FROM THE HNERTIA OF #TS BUREAUCRATIC STYLE AND THE PARALYSING EFFECTS OF THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION. HU'S ''SLEEVES ROLLED UP** APPROACH TO PROBLEMS (WHICH DOES NOTHING TO PROMOTE A STATESMAN-LIKE HNMAGE) IS EXEMPLIFIED BY HIS FREQUENT PROVINCIAL VISITS, DURING WHICH HE APPEARS TO BE AT HOME DISCUSSING PRACTICAL PROBLEMS WITH LOCAL PEOPLE.
4. HU'S POSITION ON THE MORE REFORMIST WING OF THE CHINESE POLITICAL SPECTRUM HAS ALSO MADE HIM VULNERABLE TO CRITICISM FROM MORE
·ORTHODOX ELEMENTS. THERE IS NO DOUBTIING HU'S COMMITMENT TO THE BASICTENETS OF MARX AND LENIN. BUT HE HAS FROM TIME TO TIME GOT #INTOTROUBLE FOR MISQUOTING THE MASTERS OR INTERPRETING THEIR WORKS MNWAYS WHICH COULD HAVE PROVOKED CRITICISM ABROAD. ON SUCH OCCASIONS, THERE HAS BEEN MUCH RIGMAROLE ON THE CHINESE PRESS ABOUT WHAT HE ACTUALLY SAND AND WHAT HE MEANT BY WHAT HE DID SAY. ONE OF HU'S CHARACTERISTICS (WHICH HE PROBABLY SHARES WITH DENG XIAOPING) *S FREEDOM FROM NEUROTIC FEAR OF ANY ACTHWHITY, HOWEVER PERIPHERAL, FALLING OUTSIDE DIRECT PARTY CONTROL. BECAUSE OF THMS HE APPEARS TO BE MORE RELAXED THAN OTHERS IN THE DEGREE OF FREEDOM HE #S PREPARED TO ALLOW WRITERS AN EXPRESSING CRITICISM OF THE SYSTEM AND HE HAS COME UNDER PRESSURE ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS FOR ALLOWING THE PUBLICATION OF WORKS WHICH ARE IDIOSYNCRATIC.
5. HU'S ABILITY TO SURVIVE AND THRIVE IS A GOOD INDICATION THAT HE NG AN ASTUTE AND PRACTISED POLITICAL OPERATOR. HE USED HIS LONG YEARS AS HEAD OF CHINA'S PRINCIPAL YOUTH ORGANISATIONS BETWEEN 1952 AND 1967, AND HIS APPOINTMENTS IN THE PARTY APPARATUS AFTER THE CULTURAL REVOLUTION, TO BUILD UP A LARGE GROUP OF ASSOCIATES WHO NOW HOLD, WITH THE HELP OF HIS PATRONAGE, KEP POSITIONS IN THE CHINESE POLITICAL SYSTEM, AT BOTH CENTRAL AND PROVINCIAL LEVELS. NOTABLE AMONG THESE ARE HU QILI, WHO IS STRONGLY TIPPED TO SUCCEED HU H SELF AS GENERAL SECRETARY, AND WU XUEGIAN, THE FOREIGN MINISTER, BOTH OF WHOM WORKED UNDER HU IN YOUTH ORGANISATIONS IN THE 1950'S AND 1960'S. NONE OF HIS CONTEMPORARIES HAS BUILT SUCH AN EXTENSIVE NETWORK OF SUPPORTERS.
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