‘Disaster Mao’s fault’

Press, 31 December 1980, Page 6

‘Disaster Mao’s fault’

NZPA Peking An official verdict on the late Chairman Mao Tse-tung came this week in a Chinese courtroom: he was, after all, responsible for the plight of the Chinese people in the 1966-76 “decade of disaster. ’ This flat declaration came from a prosecutor summing up the case against Mao’s widow, Jiang Qing. The prosecutdr, who called for the death sentence on Jiang, accused her of trying to "cover up her counter-revo-lutionary crimes by using Chairman Mao’s high prestige,” and said Mao’s merits still outweighed his mistakes.

But while continuing distinctly to separate Mao’s

mistakes from Jiang Qing s “crimes” the prosecutor, Jiang Wen, delivered a judgment on Mao that ' must have required deliberations at the highest levels during a four-day ; recess in her trial. The official New China News Agencv said that Jiang Wen told the court: “The people of all nationalities throughout the country are very clear that Chairman Mao was responsible, so far as his leadership was concerned, for their plight during ine Cultural Revolution and he was also responsible for failing to see through the Lin Piao and Jiang Qing counter - revolutionary cliqu-'S.” This pulled together van-

ous public statements on Mao over the last two months. He was accused of grave , mistakes, and then charged with personally launching and leading the Cultural Revolution, which at the same time was being denounced as totally disastrous. with not one good thing about it. Such a firm assessment of Mao’s role had not been expected until a Communist Party central committee meeting next month. That meeting also was expected to discuss the fate of Mao’s chosen successor, Chairman: Hua Guofeng, reported to be under criticism for still advocating some of Mao’s policies.