World Tibet Network News Tuesday, March 03, 1998

Sydney Morning Herald, Monday, March 2, 1998

By DAVID LAGUE, Herald Correspondent in Beijing

Chinese dissidents claim they have formed the first national opposition party since the Communists seized power in 1949 and imposed a one-party dictatorship which has since ruthlessly crushed any political challenge.

The new China Democracy and Justice Party, whose manifesto calls for a revolution to topple the Communist Party, was formed last week, according to pro-democracy activists outside China. It is understood to have about 100 members in five major cities.

This bold challenge to the ruling party coincides with an outpouring of calls for democratic reforms ahead of next week's annual meeting of China's Parliament, the National People's Congress.

A US-based dissident, Mr Wang Bingzhang, said in a television interview this week that the new party would be forced to remain underground while it gathered support for sweeping change.

The party pledged to establish democracy, protect individual rights, uphold social justice, preserve private property and expand the free market.

"We declare that to stop corruption by the privileged and uphold social justice, China needs a revolution," it said.

The last time the Communist Party faced a serious challenge to its authority - the 1989 student rebellion in Beijing's Tiananmen Square - it ordered troops to fire on unarmed protesters, killing hundreds or possibly thousands. The authorities then launched a sweeping crackdown on dissent.

This memory is still fresh in the minds of many Beijing residents and many remain despondent about the prospects for political change.

"Its hopeless," said one 1989 protest veteran this week. "They still have the army."

Alongside calls for reform, Chinese dissidents have been urging the People's Congress to block the appointment next week of Premier Li Peng as the new parliamentary chairman.

Mr Li, the serving leader many Chinese hold most responsible for the Tiananmen Square crackdown, has almost reached the end of the maximum two terms in his current post and is set to replace the current Congress chairman, Mr Qiao Shi, who has been dumped from the senior leadership ranks after a power struggle.

Mr Qiao's name was missing from the list of delegates for this week's new Parliament in a sign that President Jiang Zemin and his supporters have eliminated the former secret police chief as a leadership contender.

The Congress is expected to re-elect President Jiang, who also holds the posts of Communist Party general secretary and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

China's economic supremo, Vice-Premier Zhu Rongji, is poised to become Premier, and will attempt to guide China through a huge economic upheaval as the country's vast state-owned sector disintegrates.

Western diplomats in Beijing say Mr Zhu has said privately that he intends a sweeping crackdown on the corruption which now pervades almost all levels of Chinese government and commerce.