TNAG-1621-FCO40-2235-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-China-1987 — Page 8

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INFO ROUTINE HONG KONG, WASHINGTON, MOSCOW, TOKYO

INFO SAVING SHANGHA

MY TELNO 251: CHINA: POLRTICAL SITUATION

SUMMARY

нив огов

हु

04 MAR 1907

ON THE

1. THE REPERCUSSIONS OF HU YAOBANG'S DHISMISSAL CONTINUE. SURFACE THE OFFICIAL LINE OF REASSURANCE AND LIMITATION HIS HOLDING, AND A FURTHER PEOPLE'S DAILY COMMENTARY HAS GIVEN IT SUPPORT. BUT THE PRESSURE AGAINST THE LIMITS S MOUNTING AND WITH THE DISGRACE OF ANOTHER LIBERAL INTELLECTUAL THERE MAY HAVE BEEN FURTHER EROSION.

DETAIL

2.

A PEOPLE'S DAILY COMMENTARY OF 22 FEBRUARY FOLLOWED THE MODERATE AND BALANCED LINE ON THE CURRENT POLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL DEBATE WHICH WAS FORST PUT FORWARD BY ACTING GENERAL SECRETARY ZHAO ZIHYANG HN HIRS SPEECH AT THE TIME OF CHINESE NEW YEAR (MY TELNO 155). THE COMMENTARY STATED THAT UPHOLDING THE FOUR CARDINAL PRINCIPLES AND FOLLOWING THE POLINCHES OF REFORM AND OPENING UP TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD WERE THE TWO FUNDAMENTAL ELEMENTS OF THE PARTY'S LINE ADOPTED AT THE THIRD PLENUM IN 1978. NEITHER SHOULD BE OVER-EMPHASISED AT THE EXPENSE OF THE OTHER. BOTH 'LEFTISM' AND 'RIGHTSM NEEDED TO BE OPPOSED, BUT ATTACKS ON 'LEFTISM' SHOULD NOT AFFECT ADHERENCE TO THE FOUR PRINCIPLES JUST AS ATTACKS ON RIGHTSM SHOULD NOT AFFECT REFORM POLICIES. THERE HAD IN RECENT YEARS BEEN A TENDENCY AMONG SOME COMRADES TO TAKE A RATHER ONE SIDED VIEW OF THE PARTY'S LINE AND TO OVER-EMPHASIZE REFORM. THIS WAS UNDERSTANDABLE BECAUSE OF

THE NEED THERE HAD BEEN TO RRD CHANA OF CULTURAL REVOLUTION

'LEFTIST' INFLUENCES. BUT IT MEANT THAT DEOLOGICAL VIGILANCE HAD BEEN RELAXED. THIS HAD ALLOWED BOURGEOIS LIBERAL IDEAS TO TAKE

HOLD.

3.

THIS COMMENTARY PS VERY MUCH IN KEEPING WITH THE ATTEMPTS BY ZHAO AND THE REFORMERS TO CONFINE THE DEBATE TO FAIRLY STRICLY DEFINED AREAS AND TO PREVENT MIT FROM HAVING TOO MUCH AFFECT ON REFORM POLICY. ZHAO'S SPEECH WAS BOLD, AND SINCE THEN THE POSITION SEEMS TO HAVE BECOME INCREASINGLY DIFFICULT TO MAINTAIN. A FURTHER

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EXAMPLE OF THIS TREND WAS THE DENUNCIPATION AND DISMISSAL OF THE

REFORMIST EDITOR OF PEOPLE'S LITERATURE, LIU XINWU, WHICH WAS ANNOUNED ON 21 FEBRUARY. THE PRETEXT WAS THAT HE HAD ALLOWED THE

PUBLICATION OF A SHORT STORY WHICH WAS HIGHLY OFFENSIVE TO THE

TIBETAN PEOPLE. BUT IT WAS FAILRY CLEAR THAT THIPS WAS ONLY A

PRETEXT. LU'S REAL OFFENCE WAS HIS LIBERAL THINKING, NOT HIS

INSULT TO THE TIBETANS. HIS PUBLIC DISGRACE MEANS THAT THE LIGHT

THAT HAD BEEN APPARENTLY SET ON PUBLIC VICTIMS OF THE MOVEMENT HAS

BEEN BREACHED AND THAT THE WITCH-HUNT AGAINST LIBERAL INTELLECTUALS

TO SOME EXTENT CONTINUES.

EVANS

YYYY

PEHPAN 4033

LIMITED

FED

нко

PBO

PLANNING STAFF

ECD (E) ERO

TREO

DEF D

SOVIET D

EED

NAD

Ps

BSI LADY YOUNG

ASSESSMENT

COPIES TO:

STAFF CABINET OFFICE.

PS/MR RENTON

PS/ Pus

M& THOMAS

MR GILLMORE

WILSON

SIR D MR MCL AGEN

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INFO PRIORITY HONG KONG, WASHINGTON, TOKYO AND. MOSCOW

INFO SAVING SHANGHAI

MY TELNO.251 (NOT TO BELGRADE):

CHINA INTERNAL.

1. THE YUGOSLAV AMBASSADOR AND HAD A TWO HOUR CONVERSATION ABOUT THE CHINESE POLITICAL SCENE ON 19 FEBRUARY IN MY OFFICE. RY

AGREEMENT, NEITHER OF US WAS ACCOMPANIED.

2. DRAGAN (WHO HAS BEEN A MEMBER OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF THE YUGOSLAV LEAGUE OF COMMUNISTS FOR A LONG TIME AND WAS A VICE-PREMIER FROM 1979 TO 1984) STARTED BY SPEAKING FOR AN HOUR ABOUT HIS INTERPRETATION OF THE FALL OF HU YAOBANG. HIS INTERPRETATION WAS EASED, HE SAID, ON THE CLOSE STUDY OF ALL DOCUMENTS AND SPEECHES PUBLISHED SINCE 1979 AND ON CONVERSATIONS WHICH HE HAD HAD WITH A NUMBER OF CHINESE SOURCES''. I DID NOT PRESS HIM TO IDENTIFY THESE. BUT IT EMERGED QUITE CLEARLY THAT AT LEAST SOME OF THEM ARE WITHIN THE SECRETARIAT, ON WHICH HE CALLS REGULARLY (CHINA AND YUGOSLAVIA OF COURSE HAVE PARTY-TO-PARTY AS WELL AS STATE-TO-STATE RELATIONS., AND DRAGAN HAS TOLD ME IN THE PAST THAT WE. WAS WELCOMED ON HIS ARRIVAL IN 1935 AS THE REPRESENTATIVE IN CHINA OF THE

YUGOSLAV LEAGUE OF COMMUNISTS AS WELL AS THAT OF THE YUGOSLAV GOVERNMENT).

3. I WILL RECORD IN A MINUTE OR LETTER WHAT DRAGAN SAID OF EVENTS

BETWEEN 1979 AND THE SUMMER OF 1935. HE COVERED THIS PERIOD IN

QUITE A LOT OF DETAIL, PICKING OUT THE DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE FOR THE

EXISTENCE OF REPEATED ATTEMPTS BY CONSERVATIVES IN THE UPPER PEACHES

OF THE PARTY TO CAMPAIGN FOR IDEOLOGICAL AND MORAL PURITY.

4. DRAGAN SAID THAT THE ATMOSPHERE WITHIN THE PARTY HAD BECOME MORE

HIGHLY CHARGED AFTER THE WIDENING OF THE PERMITTED SCOPE OF DERATE

ABOUT POLITICAL REFORM IN THE SUMMER OF 1936. A SERIES OF POLITBURO

AND OTHER MEETINGS DURING THE SUMMER HAD REVEALED THE EXTENT OF

OPPOSITION TO POLITICAL REFORM OF A KIND WHICH, IN CONSERVATIVE EYES, COULD LEAD TO THE DESTRUCTION IN CHINA OF A SYSTEM BASED ON THE FOUR CARDINAL PRINCIPLES. ONE RESULT OF THIS HAD BEEN THE REFORMULATION OF POLITICAL PEFORM AS 'REFORM OF THE POLITICAL STRUCTURE AS THE SUBJECT UNDER DISCUSSION. ANOTHER RESULT HAD BEEN THE POSTPONEMENT AT LEAST TWICE OF THE SIXTH PLENUM OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE. A THIRD RESULT HAD BEEN THE COMPROMISE LANGUAGE, WHICH WAS VERY MUCH OPEN TO INTERPRETATION, OF THE RESOLUTION EVENTUALLY ADOPTED BY THE SIXTH PLENUM.

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