Deng Appears on TV, Quells Death Rumors

Confounding rumors that he is dead or dying, paramount leader Deng Xiaoping appeared on national television Wednesday for the first time in more than a year, offering Lunar New Year’s greetings to the Chinese people at a reception in Shanghai.

Supported on each side by his daughters, Deng, who will be 90 in September, smiled at guests and walked slowly into the room full of leading Shanghai politicians.

Deng’s voice was not broadcast in the television report. Deaf in one ear, Deng relied on his daughter and biographer, Deng Rong, to shout conversations into his good, left ear.

The official New China News Agency reported that Deng “expressed the hope that the Chinese people will score still greater victories in the new year.”

The Chinese Lunar New Year--the Year of the Dog--began at midnight Wednesday.

After ruling for more than 12 years beginning in 1978, Deng has not held an official position in China since 1990. His only remaining title is chairman of the All China Bridge Assn., the main national group for his favorite card game.

However, he is still widely considered China’s main power, whose death will spark a battle for succession not seen since the 1976 death of Mao Tse-tung.

State television and the official news agency also devoted stories to Deng’s main rival in the Chinese power scheme, 88-year-old Chen Yun.

Chen, a famed guerrilla leader in the war of liberation, broke with Deng in the 1980s.

A tough hard-liner who won popularity by confronting Chairman Mao over the failure of Mao’s “Great Leap Forward” program, Chen favors maintaining a strong central authority.

“Without the authority of the party Central Committee, there will be no major success and social stability,” Chen said Wednesday.

Like Deng, Chen praised the development of Shanghai but warned, according to the official news agency, that “special attention should be paid to the issue of keeping the scale of construction compatible with the country’s economic capabilities.”