Word: deng
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...Deng the Reformer has always been something of an enigma. He has strongly supported economic change while remaining wary of political reforms. Personal experiences during the chaotic Mao years, particularly the anarchy of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76), convinced Deng that even a modest amount of dissent could rapidly spin out of control. Uneasily, he let his protege explore possible avenues of change. Under Hu, members of the Communist Party went so far as to question the party's right to rule, and they encouraged greater freedom of expression among artists and intellectuals...
When the student protests erupted last month, however, Deng aborted the ) experiment. The move convinced some China watchers that Deng would sacrifice anything rather than risk political upheavals. His tough stance on the protests was made clear in the first directive of 1987 issued by the Central Committee. It quoted Deng as saying, "When necessary, we must deal severely with those who defy orders. We can afford to shed some blood. Just try as much as possible not to kill anyone...
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...