Editing Zhao Ziyang (section)

=== Aftermath ===
The protesters did not disperse. A day after Zhao's 19 May visit to Tiananmen Square, Premier [[Li Peng]] publicly declared [[martial law]], leading to the deaths of hundreds of protesters on the 4th of June. At the same day, Deng held another meeting with senior leaders, where he decided to remove Zhao as General Secretary, replacing him with [[Jiang Zemin]].{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=233}}

Around two weeks later, from 19 to 21 June, an enlarged meeting of the Politburo was held to make decisions on the upcoming Fourth Plenum of the 13th Central Committee.{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=247}} The meeting included the Party's most influential elders, and aimed to shape the government's response to the events of 4 June, by consolidating support for the armed crackdown and removing Zhao from office.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Buckley|first=Chris|date=31 May 2019|title=New Documents Show Power Games Behind China's Tiananmen Crackdown|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/world/asia/china-tiananmen-crackdown.html|access-date=30 June 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite news|last=Johnson|first=Ian|date=27 June 2019|title=China's 'Black Week-end' {{!}} by Ian Johnson {{!}} The New York Review of Books|language=en|work=[[The New York Review]]|url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/06/27/tiananmen-chinas-black-week-end/|url-access=subscription|access-date=30 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606180214/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2019/06/27/tiananmen-chinas-black-week-end/|archive-date=6 June 2019|issn=0028-7504}}</ref> Participants were invited to display their loyalty to Deng by endorsing two documents: Deng's [[June 9 Deng speech|9 June speech]] which justified the use of military force, and a report issued by Li Peng criticizing Zhao's handling of the crisis.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|last=Nathan|first=Andrew J.|author-link=Andrew J. Nathan|date=30 May 2019|title=The New Tiananmen Papers|language=en-US|work=[[Foreign Affairs]]|url=https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2019-05-30/new-tiananmen-papers|url-access=subscription|access-date=30 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190603110125/https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2019-05-30/new-tiananmen-papers|archive-date=3 June 2019|issn=0015-7120}}</ref> Zhao was also allowed to leave his home on 20 June to speak in his own defense. Zhao acknowledged "shortcomings, errors, and mistakes" in his work, but defended his economic work, and refused to accept that he "supported the unrest" and "split the party". He also called for political reforms to remain a priority. Beijing Mayor [[Chen Xitong]] attacked Zhao by saying "I feel that Comrade Ziyang is making excuses".{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=248}}

Party hardliners that had opposed Zhao's reforms took the opportunity to criticize him, with elder [[Wang Zhen (general)|Wang Zhen]] stating that Zhao lacked ideological toughness and was bringing China closer to the West. Zhao likewise received no support from his political allies, who wanted forgiveness from the leadership. [[Hu Qili]], who was then a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, acknowledged he had sided with Zhao in opposing martial law, but said that Deng's 9 June speech made him realize his "thinking was not clear in the face of great issues of right and wrong affecting the Party's and the state's future and fate".<ref name=":0" /> Hu was subsequently purged from his position, but held several ministerial and ceremonial positions in the 1990s, along with the benefits granted to retired leaders.<ref name=":0" /> Zhao himself later described some of the speeches at the meeting as "entirely in the style of the Cultural Revolution", saying his opponents engaged in "reversing black and white, exaggerating personal offenses, taking quotes out of context, [and] issuing slanders and lies".<ref name="Prisoner">{{Cite book|last=Zhao|first=Ziyang|url=https://archive.org/details/prisonerofstates00zhao|title=Prisoner of the state : the secret journal of Zhao Ziyang|publisher=Simon & Schuster|others=Bao Pu, Renee Chiang, Adi Ignatius, Roderick MacFarquhar|year=2009|isbn=978-1-4391-4938-6|location=New York|oclc=301887109|url-access=registration|via=[[Internet Archive]]}}</ref>{{Rp|43}} The full details of this meeting were not made public until 2019, when transcripts from the meeting were published by New Century Press in Hong Kong, who had obtained copies from a party official.<ref name=":1" />

After the fourth plenum of the 13th Central Committee on 23–24 June, Zhao was dismissed from all his positions.{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=253}} The plenum praised Zhao for his economic reforms, but accused him of "[making] the mistake of supporting the turmoil and splitting the party", and that he had "unshirkable responsibilities for the development of the turmoil".<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ap|date=25 June 1989|title=Excerpt From Statement on Zhao's Dismissal|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/25/world/excerpt-from-statement-on-zhao-s-dismissal.html|access-date=5 July 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Zhao was subsequently placed under house arrest, but was allowed to maintain his party membership.<ref name="BBC1" /> Following Zhao's dismissal, Jiang Zemin replaced Zhao as General Secretary of the CCP and successor of Deng Xiaoping.<ref name="independent" /> Over thirty ministers were dismissed as Zhao loyalists, and Zhao was widely criticized in the Chinese media.<ref name="Du1">{{Cite news|date=16 October 2009|title=Selections From an Interview With Du Daozheng|language=en-US|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/world/asia/17du-transcript.html|access-date=30 June 2021|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In the end, mentioning his name in the media was severely restricted, and he was [[Photograph manipulation|airbrushed]] from photographs and [[Damnatio memoriae|deleted from textbooks]].{{Sfn|Gewirtz|2022|p=262}}{{Sfn|Pan|2008|p=4–5}}

Zhao's rival, Li Peng, later accused Zhao of fomenting the Tiananmen Protests exclusively for political gain. According to Li, "Zhao liaised with [[Bao Tong]] immediately after his arrival in Beijing (from Pyongyang). Bao gathered some other of Zhao's supporters to hash out the situation. They feared that Zhao's political future was at stake: Zhao did not succeed in [managing] the economy, was not stellar politically, does not have a power base of his own, and his son was suspected of illegal business dealings. As such, it was likely that Zhao would become the 'scapegoat' of the student movement. These advisors suggested to Zhao that he maintain distance with Deng Xiaoping [and] attempt to win the people's hearts in order to save himself; there were no other options."<ref>Li Peng.  ''[[The Critical Moment – Li Peng Diaries]]'' [Paperback]. Au Ya Publishing. 2010. {{ISBN|1-921815-00-0}}, {{ISBN|978-1-921815-00-3}}. p.3</ref> Because Zhao was never formally charged with any wrongdoing,<ref name="BBC1" /> it cannot be known what evidence Li had to support his claims.