Jiang sets tone with trip down Mother River July 5, 1999
By Wu Zhong
STORY: PRESIDENT Jiang Zemin marked the 10th
anniversary of his rise to the top the nation's hierarchy by
making a three-week-long inspection trip of the areas along
the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. Was it for
the walk or was it a harbinger of things to come?
Mr Jiang was formally endorsed as General Secretary of the
Chinese Communist Party on 23 June 1989 at the Fourth
Plenum of the party's Central Committee, replacing Zhao
Ziyang who had to step down for his sympathetic attitude
towards the pro-democracy students.
Mr Zhao had been purged following his opposition to the
imposition of martial law in Beijing on 20 May that year. Mr
Jiang, then party chief of Shanghai, was called in to Beijing
before the 4 June crackdown.
This year, shortly after 4 June, Mr Jiang left Beijing for his
Yellow River odyssey.
The president made his first public appearance in Xi'an, an
ancient city in the northwest which had been the nation's
capital for a number of dynasties in history, now the capital
of
Shaanxi Province.
Mr Jiang then travelled along the Yellow River from Hukou
bordering Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces, a place now famous
for a Taiwanese stuntman's death-defying ``flight'' by car over
the river last year and emulated by a local peasant on a
motorbike two weeks ago.
The official media reported Mr Jiang's stopover in Taiyuan,
provincial capital of Shanxi, Zhengzhou, provincial capital of
Henan, and Jinan, provincial capital of Shandong.
Mr Jiang ended his trip in the coastal city of Qingdao on 26
June in Shandong where he chaired a two-day conference
with leaders from six provinces in the east coast on reform of
state-owned enterprises.
Mr Jiang's ``important speeches'' during the trip, as reported
by the official media, concentrated on two topics: bringing the
Yellow River under control and restructuring of the state
sector.
Analysts have viewed Mr Jiang's speeches on reform of the
SOEs as outlining new policy principles on SOE reform to be
endorsed by the plenum of the party Central Committee in
September.
It was also timely for Mr Jiang to stress water conservation
work on the Yellow River as the annual flood season is
approaching and floods in some areas have already been
reported.
Mr Jiang is still very upbeat about last year's great victory
over the worst floods since 1954 on the Yangtze River _ an
accomplishment of the nation and the armed forces under his
command.
What is probably more intriguing, and politically more
significant, is that Mr Jiang spent almost three weeks
travelling along the Yellow River during the 10th anniversary
of his rise to power.
Political commentators on the mainland are still figuring out
what political messages Mr Jiang was trying to deliver with
this trip.
Some say that by making the tour Mr Jiang meant to make
good an unfulfilled wish of the late Chairman Mao Zedong,
thereby demonstrating that he himself is a trustworthy
successor to the endeavours of Mao.
The Yellow River, the country's second longest river, is also
called the Mother River along which Chinese civilisation
began.
It is also known as the River of Sorrow because for thousands
of years it has periodically brought disasters, floods as well
as
droughts, to wide areas on both sides of its banks.
Much of the nation's efforts in the past have been devoted to
harnessing the Yellow River. In dynastic times an emperor
was hailed as a good ruler if under his rule the Yellow River
was brought under control.
According to the memoirs of his aides, Mao had said at
different periods in his life that his greatest wish was to
make
tour on horseback the length of the river to study and
investigate this great watercourse.
During a particularly bitter power struggle after the failure
of
his Great Leap Forward policy, Mao threatened to resign from
politics with the words: ``I'll ride a horse to investigate the
Yellow River!''
Whether or not the poetic chairman seriously meant it is not
known but Mao was unable to fulfil his wish. In his later years
Mao made it clear that this was one of the few regrets in his life.
But now the No 1 has also become the first leader to travel
the length of the Yellow River, making an inspection tour that
fulfils the late Chairman Mao's wish.
The tour was also accomplished in the year marking the 50th
anniversary of the People's Republic of China founded by
Mao. Significantly it was among activities in the run-up to
this
anniversary.
The timing as well as the length of Mr Jiang's Yellow River
tour could hardly be coincidental.
By making such a long trip Mr Jiang also made a political
gesture, indicating he himself would devote greater efforts to
domestic affairs.
Mr Jiang had been trying to behave as a big player on the
international stage since early 1997, after the death of his
mentor Deng Xiaoping.
Indeed over the past two years or so Mr Jiang's
accomplishments in diplomacy may be said to have
overshadowed his achievements at home.
The most tangible was his joining efforts with US President
Bill Clinton to foster the so-called ``constructive strategic
partnership'' between China and the United States.
However, the US-led Nato's bombing of the Chinese Embassy in
Belgrade subjected Sino-US ties to great setbacks.
The embassy bombing and the Cox report and other
unpleasant encounters with Uncle Sam may have
disillusioned the Chinese people, and perhaps Mr Jiang and
other mainland leaders, that in international relations there
is
no such thing as ``friendship for friendship''.
Frustrated by setbacks in external affairs, Beijing is shifting
priority to better management of domestic affairs.
Mr Jiang's Yellow River trip in a way heralds such a subtle
shift.
Copyright(c) 1999 Hong Kong Standard Newspapers Ltd. All rights
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