Zhao Ziyang: Last battle?

Beijing, Jan. 16 (Reuters): Zhao Ziyang, the former Chinese Communist Party chief who was purged for sympathising with the Tiananmen pro-democracy protests, lay in a deep coma today and could die any time, a source close to his family said.

Zhao, now 85, was ousted in 1989 for opposing the army crackdown on the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and remains a politically sensitive figure 15 years on because of government fears that his death might spark a sudden groundswell of protest.

Sources said Zhao was in a deep coma in a Beijing hospital after suffering multiple strokes. ?The situation is not good,? said one source close to the family. ?He can die any time. The level of oxygen in the blood is way below normal.?

The Xinhua news agency, in a terse English-language report, broke the official silence on Zhao?s health today, saying that he was in a stable condition after treatment.

State newspapers and television had made no mention of Zhao?s deteriorating health, fearful of stirring up sentiment for the former reformist Premier and party general secretary, who has been under house arrest for nearly 15 years.

Leading newspapers including the party mouthpiece, People?s Daily, carried front-page reports of yesterday?s funeral ceremony for another former top leader, Song Renqiong, attended by President Hu Jintao and predecessor Jiang Zemin.

A foreign ministry spokesperson had no immediate comment.

Zhao was placed under house arrest, confined behind the red door of his Beijing courtyard home, after the government declared martial law on May 20, 1989. The army crushed the demonstrations on June 3-4, killing hundreds, perhaps thousands. He was last seen in public that May 19, when he tearfully begged student protesters to leave the square, saying he had come too late and describing the leadership as old and out of touch.