There’s a big anniversary coming up: the 20th anniversary since the Chinese army crushed the peaceful Tiananmen Square demonstrations by college kids and working people. I honor of the occasion, the memoir of Zhaou Ziyang, former head of the Chinese Communist Party, is being released this week – four years after his death. The work, which the publisher has titled “Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang,” details Zhao’s assertion that the decision to impose martial law was illegal and a peaceful solution could easily have been negotiated. Zhao refused to condemn the protests, and was purged from the party and exiled at the end of June, 1989.

For their part, the Chinese government, via Spokesman Ma Zhaoxu

“…reiterated the official view that the movement’s crushing paved the way for China’s economic success in the two decades that followed what he called “the political incident.”

“Facts have proven that the socialist path with Chinese characteristics that we’ve pursued is in the fundamental interest of our people and it reflects the aspirations of the entire nation,” Ma said when asked to comment on the release of a posthumous memoir by Zhao Ziyang, the Chinese leader who was deposed for supporting the protests.

Sounds to me like the Chinese have fully embraced the idea of capitalism. Crush the people and kill the dissenters in order to protect profits.