HONG KONG -- While it seems unlikely that the death of China's former leader Zhao Ziyang will provoke mass unrest, the way in which it is being handled indicates the profound official insecurity still aroused by the mass unrest in 1989.
"Zhao Ziyang Passes Away: Comrade Zhao had long suffered from multiple diseases affecting his respiratory and cardiovascular systems, and had been hospitalized for medical treatment several times. His condition worsened recently and he passed away in Beijing on Jan. 17 after failing to respond to all emergency treatment. He was 85."
Those 52 words were all that The People's Daily, published by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), used to report the passing of the former premier, former CCP general secretary and, above all, the man who set China on its current path of economic reform. The People's Daily did not accord Zhao's passing front-page treatment. The three sentences were tucked away near the weather reports.