In a document originally published by the China E-weekly, the children of Zhao Ziyang openly disagree with the house arrest of their father, who died after roughly 15 years of being detained at his home. Below is the complete document, published in the No. 186 issue of the China E-Weekly.

Our Opinions

Dear officials of the Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ,

1. Our father did not agree with the Forth Plenary Session of the Thirteenth Central Committee of the Party’s conclusion that he had committed wrong and how it was handled. Until his death, he did not change his standpoint. We also think that the conclusion and the punishment were wrong, and should be corrected. We believe that a correct conclusion about the June 4th incident will be drawn in history.

2. Since late May of 1989, the organization of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) had taken all sorts of measures to restrict our father’s freedom. Our father expressed his frustration in various ways. On August 21, 2004, when he met with the person in charge of the Office of the Central Committee of the CCP, he said, “It is wrong to house arrest and restrict the freedom of a person who holds a different opinion or who made a mistake. Even more, Zhao’s lifelong imprisonment is a dishonor in the history of the CCP.” We believe that putting a veteran CCP member, an aged man of over 70 to 80 years old, under house arrest for 15 years violates the Party discipline and state law. We anticipate the Central Committee will give a clear explanation on this matter.

3. In the history of the CCP, it is unprecedented that a funeral arrangement made by the CCP for a veteran party member and a veteran comrade did not release an account of the deceased’s life, not even a brief biography. We think this is abnormal and wrong. It is unfair to our family members and the people who care about our father. We believe that our father’s lifetime will be justly assessed, and such judgment shall exist in people’s hearts and will be drawn in history objectively.

4. Our father has passed away for nearly 10 days, and we have been positively communicating the above mentioned issues with the CCP organization. We still insist on our own views. Based on the desire that our father can rest in peace soon, we agree to pick an appropriate time to hold crematory and funeral ceremony. We hope to be able to pay our last respects to our father, who will be missed forever, in a peaceful and relaxed atmosphere. For humane and sympathetic sakes, we request a chance to be given for those whom our father wished to see in the past 15 years and those who wish to see our father to pay their last respects.

January 25, 2005