Deng Xiao Ping will be fondly remembered in the West as the man who brought China back from the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, who restored stability and who brought great economic advancement to that troubled country. However, Deng will also be remembered, perhaps wrongly, as the man who crushed political dissent. It needs to be recalled that Deng Xiao Ping personally appointed the two great political reformers, Hu Yao Bang and Zhao Zi Yang. Since then, everybody has just been waiting for Deng Xiao Ping to die. It has been a long wait.
Momentous change is about to take place in China.
I do not know if it will happen in the next two days, or in two weeks or in two years, but it is going to happen very soon. The outsiders find this to be unlikely, but it is to be remembered that throughout its history, China was never united until Mao consolidated power in 1949. There is little holding China together now. We can only hope that China will remain peaceful and not become another war torn Yugoslavia or another lawless Russia. Like so many others, I have been sitting and waiting for Deng Xiao Ping to die for a long time.