TNAG-2102-FCO40-2991-Leading-personalities-in-Hong-Kong-1990 — Page 88

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result his influence has probably declined. He was well known to Sir Geoffrey Howe and visited Britain in 1985 (with Zhao Ziyang), 1988, and again, for a stopover, in 1990.

Yang Rudai (66)

Member of the Politburo.

Party Secretary of Sichuan province. Presumably an associate of Zhao Ziyang's, having worked under him in Sichuan during the pioneer period of reform. Chengdu (the capital of Sichuan) was the scene of bloody riots after the Tiananmen massacre, and death sentences were passed on some of those involved. kept a relatively low profile since June last year.

Yang Shangkun (83)

Yang has

President of the People's Republic of China. Member of the Politburo. First Vice-Chairman of the Party's Military Commission. The influence of the Yang family was increased noticeably at the Party's Fifth Plenum in November 1989, when both Yang and his brother, Yang Baibing (q.v.) were promoted to senior positions within the Military Commission. They now have a tight grip on military affairs at the highest level. Yang Shangkun played a key role in the supression of the democracy movement in June 1989. Once widely believed to be a close ally of Deng Xiaoping, who had engineered the return of him and of many other veteran leaders to power, he now sees himself more as a potential inheritor of Deng's mantle.

C.

OTHER SENIOR PARTY LEADERS

Ding Guangen (60)

Alternate member of the Politburo. Member of the Central Secretariat. Head of the Taiwan Office of the State Council. Ding has made his way back to respectability after resigning as Minister of Railways following a horrific series of accidents. His political alignment is unclear, but Deng Xiaoping seems to have had a strong hand in his elevation.

Yang Baibing (70)

Member of the Central Secretariat. Secretary-General of the Party's Military Commission. Director of the PLA General Political Department. The younger brother of Yang Shangkun, Yang has enjoyed a rapid promotion recently and is now one of the key figures, both in the Armed Forces, and, increasingly, in the leadership as a whole. His political fortunes are tied closely to those of his elder brother.

TH8ABS

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