Jiang faces reform attacks from within

Former prime minister Zhao (pictured in a 1987 file photo) has been under house arrest since 1989

HONG KONG, China (CNN) -- Chinese President Jiang Zemin is bracing for a series of attacks from members of the Communist party's liberal wing, including former party chief Zhao Ziyang.

The party's "rightist" cadres and intellectuals, who want thorough-going political reform, have been quietly putting together and circulating petitions asking Beijing to hasten the pace of liberalization after the upcoming 16th Congress.

A party source said Zhao, who was deposed after the Tiananmen Square massacre, had been asked by friends to make known his views on reform at a crucial point in the party's development.

While Zhao has been under house arrest since 1989, the 82-year-old elder is in good health and he follows current affairs avidly.

On the eve of the 15th party congress in 1997, Zhao circulated a petition asking Jiang to reverse the verdict on the massacre -- and to institute Western-style democratic reforms immediately.

"State security personnel have boosted their surveillance on Zhao recently," the party source said.

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"However, Zhao has told intimates of the importance of pushing reform at and after the 16th congress."

A Western diplomat familiar with Zhao's associates said the former party chief had expressed dissatisfaction that five years ago, his petition had not reached enough congress delegates or Central Committee members.

"Zhao has for the past year been stressing that real democracy can solve most of China's problems such as corruption and dictatorial decision-making," the diplomat said.

"A statement or letter by Zhao on what the 16th Congress should do for reform can have a big impact on political development, including the issue of Jiang's retirement."

Apart from democratic reforms, liberal cadres and intellectuals have written papers asking Beijing to formalize institutions such as fixed retirement ages and terms of office for Communist party and government positions.

President Jiang's recent campaign to hang on to at least one of his posts, which may include that of party general secretary, has aroused opposition from the majority of "rightist" intellectuals.

Democratic reforms

Bao (pictured in a video released by Human Rights in China in 1999) is the most senior Chinese government official to be imprisoned for opposing the use of force during the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989

Meanwhile, Zhao's former political secretary Bao Tong, who is under 24-hour police surveillance, has circulated a long paper attacking Jiang's famous "Theory of the Three Represents."

The theory, which says the party should represent the advanced trends of society as well as the "fundamental interests of the broad masses," is expected to be enshrined in the party charter at the congress.

However, in his article, which is being serialized by the independent Hong Kong Economic Journal, Bao said that unless democratic reforms were promoted, the party would only represent "the rich, the nobility, and the powerful."

Bao, 69, who was jailed for seven years after the massacre, added that the party could never claim to represent the interests of the masses because the noblemen-cadres had refused to take care of the livelihood of millions of unemployed workers and peasants.

He indicated the party's 'mandate of heaven' could snap if it continued to lock up organizers of underground labor unions and refuse to allow peasants to have basic human rights.

Political analysts in Beijing said Bao's no-holds-barred critique of the "Three Represents Theory" could encourage more attacks on Jiang even as the president was trying to foster unity in the party in the run-up to the congress.

They said until recently, a minority of "rightists" had been reluctant to target Jiang's theory because they thought it had progressive elements such as allowing private businessmen to enroll as party members.