 JCP Secretariat Head expresses condolences on Zhao's death Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi used his news conference on January 17 to express condolences on the death of Zhao Ziyang, former general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party. Referring to the Tiananmen Square incident in 1989, he said, "It is very regrettable that Zhao died before this question is resolved," reiterating the JCP view that "the use of force to suppress a peaceful movement is incompatible with socialist democracy." In August 1998, when Fuwa Tetsuzo, JCP Executive Committee chair at the time, led a JCP delegation to Beijing for talks that normalized JCP-CPC relations, he stated the JCP view on the Tiananmen Square incident in his talks with Hu Jintao, Chinese vice president at the time. Ichida was a member of the delegation. (end) |