Nie Rongzhen
After resigning as Defense Minister in 1981, Xu remained active in politics. He served in the Politburo and the Central Committee, and was the vice chairman of the Central Military Commission. He was forced to resign his positions, along with Nie Rongzhen Ye Jianying, in 1985. During the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he and Marshal Nie Rongzhen, published statements which, while calling for civil order, warned that the PLA should not resort to bloodshed to suppress the protests.