North Korean purge a reminder of China's progress since Cultural Revolution
Zhou Zunyou says China's reforms have led to significant steps in applying rule of law
Kim Jong-un's uncle by marriage and the former No 2 man in North Korea, Jang Song-thaek, was executed this month for his "anti-party and counter-revolutionary crime" or, in other words, plotting to overthrow the supreme leader, Kim.
He was also charged with a long list of other offences ranging from corruption to womanising, from gambling to distributing pornography, from drug use to half-hearted applause for young Kim's promotion. In a viciously worded report, North Korea's state media denounced him as a "traitor for all ages", "despicable human scum" and "worse than a dog".
When commenting on the killing of Jang, China's foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said it was the "internal affairs" of North Korea.
As opposed to the Chinese government's hiding of its displeasure with the purge, many Chinese people expressed openly their anger over the way Jang was treated.
The myriad accusations levelled against him and the vitriolic language used to denounce and humiliate him are strongly reminiscent of the decade-long Cultural Revolution.
During the Cultural Revolution, countless Chinese were persecuted, beaten, tortured or killed. Among them, Liu Shaoqi , formerly China's head of state and would-be successor to Mao Zedong, was the highest-level victim. Having fallen out of grace, Liu met with a brutal purge similar to that of Jang. Branded as "renegade, traitor and scab", he was stripped of all his posts and expelled from the Communist Party. Owing to torture and denial of medical treatment, he eventually died a miserable death in 1969.
Once, after being humiliated and beaten by Red Guards at a public denunciation meeting, Liu clutched and waved desperately a copy of the constitution of the People's Republic of China, protesting in vain: "I am president of the People's Republic of China."
