Saturday January 2 1999
Division over Jiang war on dissent
by WILLY WO-LAP LAM
President Jiang Zemin has faced indirect opposition in the Politburo to his iron-fisted measures to prevent unrest.
A Beijing source said yesterday that the Politburo as a whole had backed the tough tactics on dissent, including slapping heavy sentences on pro-democracy activists.
The party leadership had also authorised government departments to spend more money on welfare benefits for laid-off workers and destitute families.
However, at an internal meeting, at least one senior Politburo member expressed doubts about Mr Jiang's revival of the Maoist slogan that "preserving stability is the party's overriding task".
The senior cadre reportedly said the party should stick with Deng Xiaoping's line of devoting most resources to economic construction, not political campaigns.
"When the economy has improved, social problems will automatically be alleviated," the source quoted the Politburo Standing Committee member as saying.
It is understood that the senior cadre was dissatisfied with the fact that, to maintain stability, Beijing had ordered at least a temporary slowing of reform.
Funds that should have gone to finance enterprise reform had been used for welfare handouts and for hiring more police.
In the meeting, Mr Jiang tried to counter the criticism, by saying it would take many years before economic recovery would translate into social stability.
The party chief also warned his colleagues that "the neglect of politics" could plunge the nation into a crisis similar to the 1989 demonstrations (Tiananmen).
In yesterday's New Year message, Mr Jiang continued to play up the need to "crack down sternly on all kinds of sabotage activities by hostile forces both at home and abroad, so as to ensure social and political stability".
He revived the Maoist rallying cry of "properly handling contradictions among the people", a euphemism for exterminating anti-party elements.
A source close to Mr Jiang's personal office said, however, that the President had also tried to mend fences with the party's moderate wing by saying he was a keen reformer at heart.
A Jiang adviser has in recent weeks been telling representatives of the party's liberal and moderate wings that reforms, including political reform, would be reactivated next year.
The adviser said this year was "an exceptional year" because of the series of sensitive dates including the 10th anniversary of the June 4 democracy crackdown and the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic.