CHINA WATCH : Sacrificial Lamb

Beijing needed a high-profile scapegoat for its murderous handling of the Tian An Men Square demonstrations in 1989. Three years later it has found one: Former Communist Party official Bao Tong was sentenced this week to seven years on trumped-up charges that he leaked state secrets and created “counterrevolutionary incitement” during the demonstrations.

Chinese authorities conducted the trial in private, barring even Bao’s family until his sentencing. No wonder. Bao was arrested in May, 1989, before the June massacre. By design, Beijing obfuscated the specifics of his political crimes, never saying what secrets he allegedly leaked. It ignored requests from the United States and other governments to have independent observers present. Bao can appeal, but in China this typically is a dead-end process.

Bao was the sacrificial lamb in the political machinations of aging hard-liners, desperate to protect status quo politics. He is the highest-ranking official to be put on trial as a result of the Tian An Men massacre. Bao was chief aide to former Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang, who himself has been under house arrest for his attempt during the demonstrations to meet with students. Bao, a former member of the party’s Central Committee, was among younger party members trying to refashion China within the system, a strategy supported at the time by leaders such as Deng Xiaoping.

Imprisoning Bao is clearly aimed at further squelching free political expression in China. Truly confident leaders would not be intimidated by such dissent.