China Reportedly Clears Ex-Party Leader Zhao
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BEIJING — Disgraced former Chinese Communist Party leader Zhao Ziyang has been cleared of charges of counter-revolution made against him after 1989 pro-democracy protests were crushed, a reliable source said today.
The source said that Zhao has been cleared by a party committee investigating him on charges of splitting the party and supporting the “rioting”--the official term to describe the demonstrations that were crushed by the army around Beijing’s Tian An Men Square on June 3-4, 1989.
The announcement was made at a top-level party meeting last month by Wang Renzhong, the official leading the investigation, the source said.
In a separate development, the source said that Bao Tong, Zhao’s former right-hand man, was arrested by military security officers at his Beijing home Tuesday night.
Before leading him away, the uniformed men read out a document charging Bao with “counter-revolutionary incitement,” according to the source, who is a close associate of Bao.
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