Jiang walks tightrope between left and right
WILLY WO-LAP LAM
Communist Party ideologues have temporarily wound down their campaign against rightists, or "bourgeois-liberal" intellectuals who advocate faster political reform.
The main reason is that the hard left has exploited the anti-rightist crusade to revive slogans running counter to Beijing's economic reforms.
In the past month, the head of the leftist faction, Deng Liqun, has spoken out against exploitation of workers and farmers by a "new capitalist class".
Addressing several internal seminars organised by leftist think-tanks, Mr Deng urged cadres and citizens to be "prepared for a new class struggle".
Mr Deng claimed that in many factories and places of work run by private and foreign entrepreneurs, relationships between workers and the new bosses were "nothing more than that between exploiters and exploited".
A party source in Beijing said the leadership of President Jiang Zemin had always tried to strike a balance between left and right. Mr Jiang had criticised liberal intellectuals who urged political reforms such as multiparty politics and general elections, he said.
But the source said the President was also unhappy with leftist agendas such as the suppression of private and foreign capital. This was because the party leadership had given the non-state sector a bigger role. Mr Jiang also feared a rise in the leftists' influence would drive away foreign businessmen at a time when the country was about to accede to the World Trade Organisation.
"Usually, leftists redouble their efforts when they see that their enemies, the rightists, are under siege," said the source. "The authorities, however, have countered the Maoists' offensive by asking official media not to report their activities."
Meanwhile, the party Central Committee's publicity department and other ideological units are promoting patriotism and the "Three Emphases" campaign on toeing the Jiang Zemin line.
For example, on the anniversary of the May Fourth movement, leaders, including Vice-President Hu Jintao, stressed the need to instil patriotic values in the young and to develop national strength. However, with a view to getting China's permanent Normal Trading Relations status passed in the US congress, officials have been at pains to draw the line between patriotic education and anti-American feelings.
The official media has largely refrained from playing up emotions in connection with the anniversary of the Nato bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade.
Meanwhile, the Three Emphases campaign, "study the Marxist canon, be righteous, and be politically correct", is being conducted at county level while a variant push is being waged in rich coastal provinces such as Jiangsu and Guangdong. Its theme is "remember your origin after becoming rich; and seek further progress in the midst of prosperity".
These campaigns underscore the imperative of toeing the "line of the centre" and remaining in unison with the Jiang leadership.
Beijing has banned books about the Zhong Gong, a quasi-religious, qi gong group similar to the Falun Gong. The Hong Kong-based Information Centre of Human Rights and Democratic Movement in China said yesterday mainland bookstores had been ordered to destroy copies of nine books published by Zhong Gong.