former Politburo member Chen Xitong (WSJ052912)

Book Adds to Chinese Fray

Former Politburo Member Claims Innocence on Tiananmen; Echoes of Bo Affair

By JEREMY PAGE

Reuters

Former Politburo member Chen Xitong, left, was interviewed for the book by Chinese scholar Yao Jianfu in Beijing in an undated photo.

BEIJING—New claims by one of the most senior Communist Party officials ever jailed for corruption are likely to add heat to China's political atmosphere, already in upheaval from the Bo Xilai drama, by refocusing attention on another divisive event: the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Speaking out in his own defense for the first time since his dismissal 17 years ago, former Politburo member Chen Xitong says in a book to be published in Chinese on Friday in Hong Kong that charges against him were groundless and denies that he played a decisive role in the military crackdown on the pro-democracy protests in Beijing 23 years ago.

Mr. Chen, who was released on medical parole in 2006 and is now 81 years old, compares his own case to that of Mr. Bo, another Politburo member, who was dismissed from his party posts and placed under investigation last month; his wife is a murder suspect in the death of a British citizen.

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High-ranking Communist Party leaders ousted in recent years.

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While Mr. Chen doesn't elaborate on what makes the two cases similar, the book underlines divisions in the party and its rarely-talked-about power struggles, the dynamics of which have become more visible with the Bo affair.

Mr. Chen describes the Tiananmen crackdown as a "tragedy that could have and should have been avoided" and says that he, as Beijing's mayor at the time, simply obeyed the orders of more senior leaders, according to an advance copy of the book seen by The Wall Street Journal.

The book, Conversations With Chen Xitong," is being published by Hong Kong-based New Century Press, which is run by Bao Pu, the son of a former aide to Zhao Ziyang, who was ousted as Communist Party chief shortly before the Tiananmen crackdown.

Mr. Bao said that Mr. Chen appeared to be motivated by his desire to appeal against the verdict in his own case, and to shift the blame for the Tiananmen crackdown onto other leaders.

The publication just three days before the June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown could reignite public debate about one of China's most sensitive political issues.

Analysts say the book, based on a series of interviews Mr. Chen gave to Chinese scholar Yao Jianfu in 2011 and 2012, could also exacerbate divisions between current and former party leaders with roughly six months to go until a party congress that will set in motion a once-a-decade leadership change. The exact timing of the congress hasn't been announced.

Mr. Chen has long been accused by victims and activists of exaggerating the scale of the 1989 unrest to convince Deng Xiaoping, China's top leader at the time, to authorize the military operation that left hundreds, possibly thousands, of civilians dead.

Mr. Chen was promoted to the Politburo and made party chief of Beijing in the aftermath of the crackdown, but was ousted in 1995 and later sentenced to 16 years in prison for corruption.

A party investigation concluded he had "accepted and embezzled a large number of valuable items, and had squandered a large amount of public funds to support a corrupt and decadent life."

Mr. Chen's son was also jailed for 12 years.

Party insiders and political analysts have long said that the real reason for his downfall was that he had grown so powerful in Beijing that he was thought to represent a threat to the authority of then-party chief and President Jiang Zemin.

In the book, Mr. Chen portrays himself as the victim of a power struggle among more senior leaders.

In particular, he denies that he was "the chief commander" of the Beijing Martial Law Command Center, as he says was alleged in a book purporting to be the diary of Li Peng, who was premier in 1989 and is still alive.

"When I have an opportunity I'd like to ask Li Peng….is there an official document?" asks Mr. Chen. "By which organization, at what time, and by whom was this decided and approved? Why was I not informed at the time that I had been given such an important job?"

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'Conversations With Chen Xitong' comes out in Chinese this week.

He described the military crackdown as "a last resort, a tragedy that could have and should have been avoided, but was not." He added: "I don't know about higher-level struggles and disputes."

Mr. Chen denies either challenging Mr. Jiang's authority, or engaging in any form of corruption.

"I didn't embezzle one penny. There was no dereliction of duty," he said.

In the final interview featured in the book, conducted in April this year, Mr. Chen compares his plight to that of Mr. Bo and Chen Liangyu, a Politburo member and Shanghai party chief who was ousted in 2006 and later sentenced to 18 years in prison for corruption.

"They have not yet delivered a verdict on Bo Xilai," he said "But my thinking is that they should clearly distinguish between right and wrong. There should be a definite process.…It won't be plain sailing to get justice."

Mr. Bao said Mr. Chen had approved the publication of the first six of the eight interviews in the book, all of which he said were conducted at Mr. Chen's home in Beijing.

"It's obviously self-serving. He played a role in implementing martial law. He says he played a minor role—it's possible. For me, it served a purpose because it put the issue back on the map," Mr. Bao said.

"I don't see any sign that they will reconsider this anytime soon, but I'd like to hope that the new generation of leaders will consider putting this issue to rest by re-evaluating the events."

Write to Jeremy Page at [e-mail]