CONFIDENTIAL
49
British Embassy PEKING
Our Ref: 014/1
ES
нив
2 March 1987
chinfruc
IIA 0201, Ptchin
Mi
R Fletcher-Cooke Esin MAGISTS
FED
FCO
Dear
DES
10 MAR 1987 Sullivan Cros
મ
Mir Masefield
He is not totally a
2.
Dis
WE DON'T DO THINGS LIKE THAT ANYMORE
non
ремон
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and other reports suggest Wu is still safely in his seat
4/3
1. The Chinese are taking some trouble to demonstrate that bad old days when those who fell from grace were systematically abused and humiliated are long gone. According to the Australians, Foreign Minister Wu Xueqian told a senior Australian visitor who was here last week that people should not overlook the fact that Hu Yaobang also had achievements to his credit, one of which was the building of the relationship between China and Australia. Wu said that Hu was still a member of the Politburo Standing Committee and readily agreed to pass on messages of goodwill to Hu from Australian Ministers when they next met, which he implied would be before too long. In public too Hu has not become a complete non-person. His name has appeared at least two occasions in formal lists of names of those sending wreaths to the funerals of eminent people. He is naturally listed last among the members of the Politburo Standing Committee.
not
2. China Daily of 3 March reported that Fang Lizhi had delivered a report on modern physics to an academic meeting in Peking over the weekend. His former boss, Guan Weiyan, was also present at the station. An official was quoted as saying "The struggle against bourgeois liberali- sation is confined within the Party. Ours is an academic conference". Similarly, Tang Dacheng, a member of the Secretariat of the China Writers Association, said in an interview with Beijing Review that although the Liu Xinwu case was described as an inevitable result of the ideological trend of bourgeois liberalisation this did not mean that either Liù or the offending story were being accused of deliberately advocated bourgeois liberalisation. It was just that the pernicious ideological trend had caused confusion among the editorial staff of People's Literature. Liu had been suspended from his post, not removed, and his literary activi- ties would not be affected. So the message is that political differences do not necessarily now mean depriving people of their livelihood or freedom.
3. I suppose it may be some comfort to those on the receiving end that the game of Chinese politics is in public to be conducted according to a set of Marquess of Queensbury's rules. But this will not stop the search for more examples of the erroneous trend of bourgeois liberalisa- tion.
Nor will it make a difference to the reality of the loss of influ- ence to the reality of the loss of influence by those who fall foul of the struggle. Indeed, there seem to be those around who feel that at least in the case of Fang Lizhi they have not got their pound of flesh.
CONFIDENTIAL
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