From Radio Free Asia:
A former top aide in China’s Communist Party under house arrest at his Beijing home since the 1989 pro-democracy movement has called on Beijing to uphold civil rights and let go of one-party rule.
In an essay broadcast Wednesday by RFA’s Mandarin service, Bao Tong, former aide to the late disgraced Party boss Zhao Ziyang, took as his theme the “harmonious society” pledged by the current leadership under President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao.
“Mao Zedong would have said that the deciding word should be this: ‘It is reasonable to rebel! We should smash the landlords and divide up the land!’ Deng Xiaoping would have said: ‘Stability before all else! Continue the suppression!'”
But Bao said neither view was appropriate to China in the 21st century. “Either way, they both espouse a philosophy of struggle,” he commented. [Full Text]
– Also RFA’s Chinese version of the story
