BOOK REVIEWS

Henri Eyraud, Chine: La réforme autoritaire, Jiang Zemin et Zhu Rongji

At a time when attention is increasingly focused on the question of potential candidates to succeed Jiang Zemin and Zhu Rongji at the head of the Chinese state in 2002, General Eyraud, former military attaché to Peking during the Cultural Revolution, offers the French general public a biography that intersperses the lives of the two leaders with a brief review of the politics they practised from the time they came to power until just after the Tianíanmen Square massacre. This is not a specialist discussion on the subject, just a straightforward portrait of two leaders whose names we can barely pronounce (Introduction, p. 11), together with an overview of Chinaís internal development (p. 16). Given that the relationship between the two men constitutes a vital element in understanding the reforms they have implemented, the publication of this book, the first biographies published in French, is certainly warranted. Because, even though, as the choice of the bookís title suggests, they share a common belief in the principles of authoritarian reform, the two differ substantially, especially concerning the speed at which the reforms should be imposed. Zhu is a technocrat who decided to reform the system at the cost of stirring things up a bit in certain quarters (bureaucracy, state-run enterprises, Party corruption, etc.), while Jiang has always been careful not to alienate the conservatives and to ensure that the Partyís absolute power was maintained. The bookís 19 chapters are well organised in chronological order, and are interwoven with occasional short chapters on specific themes ranging from the Chinese way of thinking (Chapter 2) to population and employment concerns (Chapter 12). The narrative begins by recounting the childhood and formative years of the two leaders (Chapters 1 and 2). While Jiang had an easy childhood in a happy environment (p. 19), Zhu was a Third World child (p. 25) who, orphaned at just ten years of age, was brought up by an uncle. Nevertheless, both leaders managed to complete their studies against the background of Chinaís civil waróJiang attended Nanking Universityís department of technology and industrial electricity, while Zhu studied at Qinghua Universityís department of electrical engineering. The years between Japanís capitulation in 1945 and the end of the Cultural Revolution (Chapters 3 to 5) trace the careers of both men through the convulsions of the Maoist era. Right up until 1965, Jiang seemed to ride the waves with ease, while Zhu was constantly being knocked over by the swell (p. 47). Accused of being an anti-Party right-wing element, Zhu was sent to the countryside for four years to mend his ways. This situation was to repeat itself by the time of Cultural RevolutionóJiang remained a high-ranking official, initially at Wuhan, and then from 1970 at the Ministry of Machine Building. Zhu, on the other hand, was still labelled a rightist, and from 1970 to 1975 was sent for re-education through labour, where he divided his time between studying the Little Red Book and agricultural work (p. 62). For both men, it was the promotion to the top ranks of Shanghai local government that was to act as a springboard for their rise to positions at national government level (Chapters 6 and 7). In 1985, Jiang was appointed mayor of Shanghai. In late 1987, Zhu joined Jiang to, according to his own words, help comrade Jiang Zemin take care of economic development (p. 76). That same year, Jiang joined the CPC Central Committee, while Zhu had to wait for the thirteenth National Congress before he was admitted to the Central Committee. Even though they had proved themselves in Shanghai, it was the events of 1989 that were to act as the real catalyst, when the situation in Shanghai was brought under control without the intervention of the army (p. 85). Jiang, summoned to Peking, was earmarked by Deng Xiaoping to replace Zhao Ziyang. In spring 1991, when the patriarch wanted to revive the reform programme following the post-Tianíanmen freeze, he chose Zhu as his man and appointed him Vice Premier. At the fifteenth National Congress in 1997, he took over from Li Peng (Chapter 10). Chapters 11 to 15 explain the leadershipís strategy for navigating around the big stumbling blocks such as population and employment issues, the reform of state-run enterprises, the question of Taiwan, unrest in minority regions, etc. Here, Eyraud reviews the numerous problems faced by China in the late 1990s in order to throw some light on various other issues, such as the suppression of the Falun Gong movement (p. 155), corruption (p. 167), entry into the WTO (p. 187) and the increase in military power (Chapter 16). The questions raised in the final three chapters bring the book to an open-ended conclusion. Chapter 17 broaches the subject of succession, with the author emphasising that Jiang Zeminís lingering influence [Ö] will be the major factor at stake (p. 211). Whether democracy is at the end of the road is considered in Chapter 18, which in turn leads to much speculation on China in 20 yearsí time (Chapter 19) where the author considers four scenariosócontinuity, the system becoming stalled, a divided China, and the Partyís gradual self-reform (p. 230). Deliberately non-specialised in nature and based on third party sources, this book is definitely not intended for researchers or other specialists. Furthermore, the chapters are of varying standardósome read more like a collection of reading notes than a structured analysis, and the authorís views are sometimes surprisingóZhu Rongji is described as a reformer in the style of Kemal Ataturk (p. 199), and Hu Jintao as an unknown politician before his possible rise to the very top (p. 213). However, La rÈforme autoritaire constitutes a sound introduction for the general public, well organised around a lively portrait of the two men chosen by Deng Xiaoping to continue the modernisation of China in his wake.

Translated from the French original by Bernie Mahapatra