The Fourth Plenary Session of the Thirteenth Central Committee of the CPC

It was convened in Beijing from June 23 to 24, 1989. The theme of the Plenary Session was to summarize the reasons for the political turmoil of 1989, to clarify the Party's guidelines and tasks for the current and future period, and adjust and change the members of the central leading bodies of the Central Committee. The Plenary Session was attended by 170 members and 106 alternate members of the Central Committee; 184 members of the Central Advisory Commission, by 68 members of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and by 29 relevant comrades.

The Fourth Plenary Session of the Thirteenth CPC Central Committee analyzed the nature and causes of the political turmoil, initially summed up the lessons learned, and stated that the aim of the very few people who used the student movement to instigate unrest and the rebellion in Beijing and some other places of the country was to overthrow the leadership of the CPC and subvert the socialist People's Republic of China. The Party Central Committee's decision and the series of major measures taken during the turmoil were necessary and correct, and were supported by the whole Party and the whole country. The Plenary Session highly appreciated the significant role played by the old generation of proletarian revolutionaries represented by Deng Xiaoping in the struggle to counter the turmoil, and affirmed the great contribution made by the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the armed police force and the public security forces in quelling the counter-revolutionary rebellion in the capital.

The Plenary Session considered and adopted the “Report on Comrade Zhao Ziyang's Mistakes in the Anti-Party and Anti-Socialist Turmoil”, presented by Li Peng on behalf of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee. The Plenary Session asserted that Zhao Ziyang made the mistake of supporting the unrest and dividing the Party at a critical life and death moment of the Party and the country and was undeniably responsible for the eruption and development of the unrest, and that the essence of his mistake and the consequences it caused were extremely serious. The Plenary Session decided to dismiss from his posts as the General Secretary of the Central Committee, Member of the CPC Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau, Member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, Member of the Central Committee and First Vice Chairman of the Military Commission of the CPC Central Committee.

The Plenary Session re-adjusted and changed some members of the Central leading bodies of the CC. It elected Comrade Jiang Zemin as the General Secretary of the Central Committee; elected Comrades Jiang Zemin, Song Ping and Li Ruihuan to the CPC Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau; decided to add and include Comrades Li Ruihuan and Ding Guan’gen as the Secretaries of the Central Secretariat organ of the CC; removed Comrade Hu Qili from the posts of the CPC Standing Committee of the Central Political Bureau, Member of the Political Bureau of the CC and from Secretary of the Central Secretariat, and removed Comrades Rui Xingwen and Yan Mingfu from the posts of the Secretary of the Central Secretariat.

The Plenary Session highly appreciated Comrade Deng Xiaoping's important speech in which he met with the military cadres and leaders of the martial law forces that served courageously in the capital. The Plenary Session emphasized that China should continue to resolutely implement the line, guidelines and policies established since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee of the Party, and continue to resolutely implement the basic line of "One Central Task, and Two Basic Points" set by the Thirteenth National Party Congress. The Four Cardinal Principles are the foundation of the country and must be adhered to without wavering and in a consistent manner. Reform and Opening-up is the correct way for a strong country and must be carried out resolutely and persistently, and that China must not return to the old, rigid path of isolation.

The Plenary Session reaffirmed that China's adherence to its independent and peaceful foreign policy remains unchanged and that it will continue to develop friendly relations with all countries in the world on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and continue making contributions to safeguard the world peace.

This Plenary Session was an important meeting which was convened in the context of a major victory in countering the turmoil and quelling the counter-revolutionary rebellion. It also had a great importance in unifying the ideology of the Party and the whole nation, stabilizing the national political situation, strengthening the Party's construction, and guaranteeing the continuity of the Party's line, guidelines and policies established since the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee.