The farewell ceremony of Zhao Ziyang, the former general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was held on Babaoshan Cemetery in Beijing on the morning of January 29, 2005. Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese government mouthpiece, only reported briefly on Zhao’s life. In the report, it did not mention that Zhao was premier of the State Council, former general secretary of the CCP, nor did it mention the important contributions he had made since the economic reforms, On the other hand, it specifically pointed out that he made “a serious mistake” in 1989, during the Tiananmen Square Democratic Movement. Epoch Times reporter Xin Fei interviewed Mr. Gao Wenqian on January 30 regarding these events. Mr. Gao presently resides in the United States.

History on Gao Wenquian: Mr. Gao Wenqian was one of the most important official CCP historians. He is a former member of the CCP Central Committee’s Literature Research Center, and team leader of Zhou Enlai’s (former CCP premier from 1949 to 1976) biography research team. He participated in compiling CCP official publications, including “Chronicle of Zhou Enlai’s Life,” “Biography of Zhou Enlai,” and “Biography of Mao Zedong.” He is also the author of Zhou Enlai’s Later Years. In this book, he revealed a great quantity of historical documents and interview records involving Zhou Enlai. Many of these documents were disclosed for the first time, since they had been closely guarded by the CCP, and many of the documents revealed government lies and cover ups on a wide range of topics.

Gao later came to the United States, where he has been a visiting scholar at Columbia and Harvard universities as well as elsewhere.

REPORTER: What do you think of Zhao’s state funeral and the official position on his political career orchestrated by the CCP? What do you think of the whole process?

GAO: It went as I expected. Because I am from the CCP system, I know them. The Chinese authorities seemed to have compromised during the last few days before the funeral. In fact, it was all just a strategy. Doesn’t the CCP always say that they should insist on their principles but be flexible with their strategies? In dealing with Zhao’s funeral, we can see that they applied this method. In the last few days, some overseas media helped CCP to spread the news that the Chinese authorities would compromise. Actually, it was a strategy. The aim was to deceive Zhao’s family members so that they would let the authorities direct the farewell ceremony. Since Zhao’s family members traditionally should have important roles in the ceremony, if they are not cooperative or aren't present at the funeral the state holds, people will know something is wrong. So the government needed the cooperation of Zhao’s family members. The way they got their cooperation was to disseminate deceptive news.

On the other hand, the news spread by the Chinese authorities was also aimed at directing public opinion of the international community down a dead end. They tried to transfer the attention of the Chinese citizens and the overseas Chinese population. In fact, of the three possible outcomes, I thought it most likely that the CCP would not compromise. This proceeded just as I had expected. Deceit is built into the nature of the CCP.

Why wouldn’t they yield? The Zhao Ziyang problem is a CCP skeleton in the closet. Because if suddenly at the funeral service, they had restored Zhao's name at the funeral service, a great many issues would be brought to the surface and would have to be dealt with one after another. [For instance] who was responsible for putting Zhao under house arrest for 16 years until his death without any legal right? If it was investigated, it would be found that the three generations of leaders since Deng Xiaoping are all responsible. All of them owed it to Zhao to release him, but none ever relented. Deng Xiaoping had Zhao arrested based completely on his personal feelings without any due process. Deng wanted to show his extra-judicial might this way. Since it was his will to enact the “1964” suppression, Deng Xiaoping will face the judgment of history some day. Deng Xiaoping has two serious offenses, one is he’s behind the “1964” suppression and another is he’s behind the imprisonment of Zhao Ziyang until his death. [the Zhao Ziyang incident] could be likened to the “Zhang Xueliang” house arrest. (Zhang Xueliang was under house arrest for most of his life under the authority of Jiang Jieshi after the Xian incident.) This account shall certainly be settled. The third generation of core leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, Jiang Zemin, inherited Deng Xiaoping's wishes, and continued to imprison Zhao Ziyang, never letting up until he left the office two years ago.

When Hu Jintao first assumed the position, if he was wise and had the political foresight, he could have used aging, weakening, and sickness as humanitarian reasons to implement “revolutionary humanitarianism” to Zhao Ziyang and relieve him from the house arrest This would have been more pro-active. By doing it this way, he could have definitely avoided some political criticism. He could have avoided involving his administration in the issue of Zhao’s official qualitative assessment, but first would have had to extricate Zhao and give him back his freedom They certainly did not do that. Therefore, I would say Hu and Wen made mistakes one after another, it became a difficult situation to manage after that.

After Zhao Ziyang passed away, it would have only been right to use this opportunity to do him justice and to deliver a kind speech at his funeral service. It would have conformed to traditional Chinese moral ethics. But the Chinese Communist Party officials were very unyielding from the beginning. There was just one small mention in the news, which was followed by strong censorship. This resulted in domestic and overseas repercussions and widespread attention from the international society. Various countries made a point of highly praising Zhao Ziyang, which caused the Chinese Communist Party to face tremendous pressure. Moreover, there was discontent within the Chinese Communist Party as well, who felt that not clearing Zhao’s name was unjust. Under this kind of circumstance, the Chinese Communist Party had to make certain strategic concessions and verbally dance around a lot, but there was no real change deep down.

REPORTER: What is your view on that news release by Xinhua News Agency?

GAO: Although that news release by Xinhua News Agency was not read at the memorial service, the effect was the same: they sprinkled dirty water on Zhao Ziyang publicly. This news was released half an hour after the start of the memorial service, which illustrates how pressing the issue was to them. Therefore, it made no difference that is was not read at the funeral service. Zhao Ziyang’s refusal to suppress the protesters on Tiananmen was not only not a “serious mistake,” but it was a deed most worthy of praise in Zhao Ziyang’s political career.

REPORTER: What impact do you think this incident will have?
GAO: From the CCP’s official press release, we can see their official position had been finalized a long time ago. There are many tricks inside the press release. To explain it in detail, there are several big tricks they used, and I plan to unveil them in my future articles. In summary, CCP has never thought of giving up at all. This really much hurts the reputations of the CCP’s fourth generation leaders (President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiaobao). People will never believe the line, “Think of the people first” and “Rule the country by law” that were brought out by the new leadership. These are lies. If they cannot even treat their own General Secretary (President) well, can you expect them to treat everyday people well? Who would believe that they will? During the mourning activities, one man from Henan province, where Zhao Ziyang came from, wore a white flower to mourn Zhao. His eyes had been gouged out, it was really a horror! It is easy to see the CCP’s undisguised true face of atrocity. Blood written facts cannot be covered by ink written lies. People should see it very clearly this time.

It is the CCP's handling of this incident over Zhao Ziyang's death that has destroyed the lie of the so called “new government” that has been propagandized ever since Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao took over the leadership roles. Is this the way that the “new government” will treat its people? Is this the way it tramples basic human rights? This time, the CCP owes a new debt before it pays off the old one. This is the nature of the CCP, and nobody can change it. If the CCP continues in this way as a ruling party, where does it expect to lead China? There is no hope or future (for the CCP).

REPORTER: Do you think this case will finish with this funeral, or will it also impact the future?
GAO: I feel this has not finished yet. Currently the CCP only squeezed by while under pressure. There is a Chinese saying “you can escape on the 1st of the month, but can you escape on the 15th of the month?” The CCP used coercion and extortion to avoid the dilemma of Zhao’s funeral arrangements, but Tomb-Sweeping Day on the 5th of April is coming. The 4th of June is the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, these are both sensitive dates, these days are both linked with recovering Zhao’s reputation and bringing Zhao justice. Even if nothing happens right away. The anniversary of Zhao’s death is waiting.