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Deng Is Lauded, Faulted on a Life at Center Stage

HONG KONG, Feb. 20 (Thursday)—Dozens of world leaders marked the death of Deng Xiaoping with praise for his efforts to modernize his country's economy and improve the living standards of his people while forging new ties with the West.

But some of the praise for Deng, who died late Wednesday in Beijing, was tempered by observations that his regime was an authoritarian one in which political reform took a back seat to rapid economic transformation. On such crucial issues as Hong Kong's reversion to Chinese control this summer and Beijing's relations with Taiwan, some officials said they hope the post-Deng leadership will adopt a more accommodating, less confrontational stance.

British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind said in London that for Britain, Deng's most important achievement was presiding over the 1984 talks with prime minister Margaret Thatcher that produced the Joint Declaration on Hong Kong, the agreement under which the longtime British colony will again become Chinese territory on July 1.

Under that agreement, Deng pledged to keep Hong Kong's capitalist system and freedoms intact for 50 years under a formula that he characterized as "one country, two systems." That phrase—which Prime Minister John Major called a "visionary concept" Wednesday—has become the mantra of the often troubled transition process here, repeated not only by Chinese officials but by Hong Kong democracy advocates who insist that Beijing live up to Deng's promise to allow the territory a high degree of autonomy.

In Hong Kong today, reaction to Deng's death was largely muted. Newspapers carried banner headlines with front-page photos of the patriarch and special sections devoted to his life and legacy. Deng had often said that his remaining dream in life was to set foot in Hong Kong after its return to Chinese control.

The Hang Seng stock market—always sensitive to political developments on the mainland—actually opened slightly higher this morning, and the Hong Kong dollar strengthened against the U.S. currency, leading analysts to suggest that Deng's death, widely anticipated here, was having little impact on the local business outlook.

Neither is it likely to have much impact on the upcoming transfer of sovereignty, many politicians and business leaders agreed. "It will not affect the transition," said pro-China Hong Kong legislator David Chu. "The policy is unanimously supported by all the [Beijing leadership] and on top of that by the Chinese people. . . . It does not depend on any individual."

David Robinson, regional investment strategist for Hongkong Bank, suggested, however, that Beijing's commitment remains to be demonstrated. "The China policy toward Hong Kong has mainly been dictated by people of Deng's generation," he said. "The new generation leaders don't have much to do with the policy. There's clearly less of a commitment to the articles" of the Joint Declaration.

Chris Patten, the British colonial governor, said early today that Deng "will be regarded by future generations as a historic figure. His concept of 'one country, two systems' helped make possible the successful negotiation of the Joint Declaration and thus to lay the foundation for Hong Kong's stability and prosperity after 1997."

But the view from across the Taiwan Strait was less charitable toward Deng, who may be remembered there more as an uncompromising Communist whose commitment to bring Taiwan back under Beijing's control fostered long periods of tension between the island and the mainland.

"Mr. Deng Xiaoping deserves credit for opening China to the West," said Taiwan government spokesman David Tawei Lee in a television interview. "However, we still regret that during the 1989 pro-democracy movement [in China], he was not able to prevent People's Liberation Army troops from killing the democracy movement students and people on the street."

Lee said Taiwan—which Beijing considers a renegade Chinese province—is looking to the post-Deng government, led by Deng's anointed successor, President Jiang Zemin, to take a less confrontational approach toward Taiwan and engage the island's leaders in dialogue. "The best way to resolve the tension is to engage in conversation," Lee said. "I would also like to take this opportunity to call on the post-Deng leadership to engage in this conversation."

Some analysts, however, believe that the short term holds little promise for more purposeful discussions across the strait. According to one commonly held view, Jiang—seen as a weaker leader than Deng and one with no military experience—will need to shore up his support in the army as he consolidates his power base in coming months. The military, however, is believed to favor a more hard-line approach toward Taiwan—disputing Jiang's belief that Taiwan can be gradually reabsorbed by the motherland through increased economic, communication and transportation links.

Other reactions from around the world reflected Deng's mixed legacy, as a reformer who opened up the world's largest country but also as one for whom the paramount concern was always to maintain the Communist Party's ironclad grip on power.

Harry Wu, a Chinese-born American labor activist who spent 19 years in Chinese prison camps, called Deng "a criminal" who has "two bloody hands." Wu predicted a power struggle among Deng's political heirs that could lead to civil war, because Deng, he said, presided over "an empire system" that is "always looking for a Number One—the man who will become the next real emperor. That means a power struggle."

The Dalai Lama also criticized Deng for failing to respond to Tibet's demands for autonomy from Chinese rule.