An account under Hubei Daily called "Donghu Youli" published an article stressing the importance of opening up to the global market and praising Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening-up policy, which was interpreted as a veiled criticism of Xi Jinping's contractionary policy.
Xi Jinping praised Deng Xiaoping in an article carried by Xinhua News Agency, which outside observers interpreted as a signal of moderation; Hu Liren believes this is merely a smokescreen, intended to show that he endorses reform.
Xinhua News Agency published an article concerning the CCP's 14th National Congress and Deng Xiaoping, re-emphasizing the socialist market economy and related historical line.
Deng Xiaoping died on February 19, 1997. Jiang Zemin took full hold of supreme power, ushering in the Jiang Zemin era.
Following the death of Deng Xiaoping in 1997, Jiang Zemin broke free from the constraints of the supreme elder, assumed comprehensive control of party, government, and military power, and ushered in his era of governance.
On the platform of Wuchang Railway Station, Deng Xiaoping hurled a stern warning at Hubei Provincial Party Secretary Guan Guangfu and others: "Development is the absolute principle, and whoever does not reform will step down."
Deng Xiaoping delivered his southern tour speeches, emphasizing that development is of overriding importance, while reiterating the need to consistently uphold the Four Cardinal Principles and oppose bourgeois liberalization.
Bypassing the CCP Central Committee and under the tight protection of the military, Deng Xiaoping quietly boarded a special train to leave Beijing and head south, initiating the southern tour often referred to as a military coup.
In early 1992, Deng Xiaoping promoted and proposed the development of a socialist market economy, and the relevant line was confirmed during the 14th National Congress of the CCP.
At the CCP's 14th National Congress in 1992, Deng Xiaoping named Hu Jintao to enter the Politburo directly and serve as Secretary of the Secretariat of the CCP Central Committee, and also to join the Standing Committee; 49-year-old Hu Jintao was publicly established as the successor to the General Secretary.
The Fifth Plenary Session of the 13th CCP Central Committee, held in November 1989, decided that Jiang Zemin would succeed Deng Xiaoping as Chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission.
According to Yu Maochun, in August 1989, two months after the June Fourth incident, East Germany's new General Secretary Krenz visited China and shook hands with Li Peng and Deng Xiaoping, a move that further inflamed the resistance sentiment of the East German people.
Following the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, Deng Xiaoping ordered the official closure of Kanghua Company to isolate risks.
During the 1989 protests, because he advocated resolving issues within the framework of democracy and the legal system, Zhao Ziyang was stripped of all his posts by Deng Xiaoping and subsequently placed under house arrest in Fuqiang Alley, Beijing, for fifteen years until his death from illness.
After the 1989 June Fourth, Deng Xiaoping appointed Jiang Zemin as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).