Word: deng
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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There seems little doubt that Deng personally engineered Hu's downfall. The two men, who have been friends and ideological allies for 40 years, are said to have bitterly quarreled in recent weeks. Deng reportedly berated Hu for failing to take effective and decisive action to stop the student protests. Hu also crossed Deng by standing up for writers who have been critical of the party and its rigid policies...
However rancorous the exchanges between China's two top leaders may have been, it is unlikely that Deng acted impetuously over a clash of wills. In pushing Hu from the No. 2 spot, Deng knew he would destroy his own carefully crafted succession scheme and fuel a conservative backlash that could present serious obstacles for his economic reforms. Deng's move may have been defensive, a pre-emptive strike designed to stop conservative forces, which were revving up to exploit the student demonstrations by seeking to roll back the economic and social reforms. In short, it is quite possible that...
...Deng now seems bent on proving that he is not the liberal reformer optimists had hoped for. He is widely believed to have ordered up Peking's current crackdown on "bourgeois liberalism," a reference essentially to any sort of behavior that deviates from orthodox Communism. "Deng has not been forced into a weak position by the conservatives," said a Western diplomat in Peking. "This has his full support." The campaign has been likened to the movement against "spiritual pollution" mounted by the government three years ago. But, as one Western diplomat noted, "the 1984 campaign was largely rhetorical. This...
Support from intellectuals and specialists is critical if reforms are to continue in industry, agriculture, science and technology, the areas of Deng's Four Modernizations. Last Monday Premier Zhao addressed 19 scientists and specialists. "The past eight years witnessed the best period for economic development," he said. "In those years Chinese intellectuals were entirely free from worry." The intellectuals are understandably skeptical and wary. One indication of their nervousness is that in recent weeks diplomats and foreign journalists have found it increasingly difficult to make contact with members of the Chinese intellectual elite...
Despite the new crackdown, Deng vows that China's economic reforms will continue. "Reform should be carried out in an orderly way," he said last week. "That means we must be bold and cautious." Caution is now assured, but whether the new climate will sustain boldness is another matter. It seems reasonable to assume that the reforms already under way will continue. But it appears unlikely that Deng's China will take any major steps forward for some time...