Cao Siyuan, outspoken reformist who sought peaceful end to Tiananmen protests, dies

[ControlFreak]

Cao Siyuan, outspoken reformist who sought peaceful end to Tiananmen protests, dies at 68

Cao Siyuan, constitutional and bankruptcy law expert, vilified for Tiananmen role, dies at 68

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 29 November, 2014, 3:45am
UPDATED : Saturday, 29 November, 2014, 12:54pm

Verna Yu [email protected]

Cao Siyuan died early yesterday in Beijing.

Cao Siyuan, the drafter of the mainland's first bankruptcy law who was also accused of being a "black hand" of the Tiananmen pro-democracy movement, died early yesterday in Beijing, his wife said. He was 68.

Cao, who had cancer, had suffered chest pains for some time and was admitted to hospital on November 16, where he later developed breathing difficulties, his wife Chen Binbin said. He died at about 6.30am yesterday from lung and heart failure.

"It was all very sudden," she said. "He had not completed his mission."

A researcher into economic and political reform policies in the 1980s, Cao was nicknamed "Bankruptcy Cao" for having pioneered the mainland's first bankruptcy law.

During the Tiananmen movement in 1989, Cao was one of the intellectuals approached by the government to persuade students to leave the square but was later accused of being a "black hand" who masterminded the movement. He was arrested on the eve of the crackdown and detained for nearly a year.

Cao insisted that the crackdown could be avoided if the National People's Congress held an emergency session to discuss how to end the stand-off peacefully. He said he got signatures from lawmakers to support the move but it failed to stop the crackdown.

In recent years, Cao, a constitutional expert, repeatedly urged the government to eradicate the concept of "the dictatorship of the proletariat" from the constitution as a major step towards respecting citizens' rights.

He blamed the first clause in the constitution - which justified the use of "ruthless, extrajudicial oppression" against "reactionary forces" - for the country's continued lawlessness. Although the constitution says citizens enjoy the basic freedoms of press, speech and association, the underlying lawlessness meant no one was immune to persecution.

Troops opening fire on Tiananmen protestors in 1989 was an example of this lawlessness, which the authorities justified as "the suppression of the enemy class", he said.

A proponent of political reform for more than two decades, Cao said the authorities should not fear implementing reforms as they would not necessarily lead to the regime's collapse as many feared. "Reform may proceed smoothly ... this will prevent the system from total collapse," he said in Hong Kong last year.

Cao paid a price for his outspokenness. During politically sensitive periods, he was often followed by security agents and the operations of his Beijing-based independent think tank were often disrupted.

Political commentator Ching Cheong said Cao and other intellectuals active in the 1980s pioneered the push for political reform but their impact was blunted when they were all purged after the Tiananmen crackdown. "They were rejected by the system," Ching said.