As his family reported on Thursday to the dpa news agency in Beijing, the former right-hand man of party leader Zhao Ziyang, who was overthrown in 1989, died of a pulmonary embolism the day before. Bao Tong also suffered from other health problems. “He was aware of his illness and prepared,” said a relative.
After the bloody crackdown on the democratic movement on June 4, 1989, Bao Tong spent seven years in prison. He was a close associate of the reformist party leader Zhao Ziyang, who at the time was eliminated by the hardliners in the leadership because of his sympathy for the protesting students in order to send the army. While the party leader was under house arrest until his death in 2005, Bao Tong was imprisoned for seven years.
As director of the Bureau of Political Reform of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Bao Tong was the top party official to serve a prison sentence for resisting military action. After his release from prison, Bao Tong became a passionate critic and was considered one of the last living critical voices in China and not in prison. Nevertheless, he lived in his apartment building under the constant supervision of state security officials.
“China is a country without rights,” Bao Tong said in an interview with the dpa a year ago. However, without the rule of law there will always be a ‘climate of fear’. Randomness, chance and abuse of the law are “the norm”. “No one knows whether their actions are justified or prohibited,” Bao Tong said. Civilians are not protected. Neither ordinary people, nor businessmen, nor even party officials. “The catastrophe comes from heaven.”
People never know when their actions will suddenly be declared illegal, Bao Tong said. But the law should apply to everyone.
“Without equality before the law, no one will be free from fear.” The law must guarantee the safety of citizens and limit government crimes. “When there is a problem, people are afraid to raise it and don’t dare to suggest how to solve this problem,” Bao Tong said. “Everyone is covering it up and covering it up. That’s the most dangerous.”
(SDA)