Chinese Party Warns Foes Against Trying Soviet Path
China’s Communist Party responded quickly Wednesday to radical changes in the Soviet Union by warning its opponents that taking a similar path in China would set off civil war.
“In China, without the strong leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, new turmoil and wars would surely arise, the nation would be split and the people, not to mention state construction, would suffer,” the party said in an editorial in the party newspaper People’s Daily. The message was released in advance by the New China News Agency.
It raised the age-old Chinese fear of chaos to justify the need for a united and supremely powerful authority to govern 1.1 billion people.
Neither the Soviet Union nor Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev was mentioned by name, but diplomats said the message was clearly aimed at heading off any unsettling reaction among the Chinese people to events that have shaken the foundations of communism.
The Soviet Communist Party leadership agreed Wednesday to surrender its 70-year-old guaranteed monopoly on power, paving the way for the possible creation of a multi-party democracy.
China’s state-controlled media have maintained a blackout on the Soviet party plenum that ended its three-day session in Moscow on Wednesday, but many people have tuned in to foreign radio broadcasts.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
