BEIJING, March 28: China today disclosed that it executed a would-be assassin of late Communist party supremo, ``Chairman'' Mao Zedong, soon after he was captured in 1949.Releasing more details from its classified files on an attempted US-backed plot to assassinate China's top leaders, including Mao, first premier Zhou Enlai and others, the official Xinhua news agency said the would-be assassin, Duan Yunpeng, was arrested, following the assassination attempt in northeast China, and was later executed.
The state media reported an attempted US-Taiwan backed bid on the life of ``Chairman'' Mao, who was the supremo of China's Communist party till his death in 1976.
The report said secret US agents along with Taiwan spies tried to assassinate Mao when he was on a visit to the former Soviet Union in 1949.
The news agency, quoting declassified files of Chinese Ministry of State Security (intelligence), said, ``Documents reveal that vice-chairman Liu Shaoqi, premier Zhou Enlai and Shanghai Mayor Chen Yi werealso marked for assassination.''
It said the spy thriller movie, Rising Sun, Sudden Clap of Thunder opens with a scene showing three Chinese policemen arresting Duan at south China's Guangzhou railway station. The film, jointly produced by the Ministry of State Security and two other television companies, was released nationwide yesterday. The report said that it is the first film to depict the ``notorious mission'' and would-be assassin Duan Yunping.
Duan, born in Hebei province gained notoriety as a ``master burglar'' in the Chinese capital, Beijing and neighbouring industrial city of Tianjin. Duan, reportedly a spy, fled to Taiwan in 1949 when the People's Republic of China was founded.
``The basic plot (of the film) revolves around authentic historical records,'' Xinhua quoted a state security ministry official, who promised to declassify more such secret files to ``assist film producers and enhance general public awareness of the importance of national security.''
Mao visited the former SovietUnion in 1949 and Te Kuomintang regime led by Mao's arch-rival, Chiang Kai-Shek conspired with US secret agents to assassinate China's top leader, the report said. Chiang was the leader of Kuomintang - or Chinese nationalist - forces that lost China's civil war to the Communists led by Mao in 1949. They were driven to Taiwan island (formerly known as Formosa) where they established a rival Chinese government.
The report said that shortly after the founding of China in 1949, Chiang ordered air dropping of armed spies in remote hilly areas in the Changbai mountains in northeast China's Jilin province.
However, Mao immediately deployed police to safeguard the country the official said. One report said the plot against Mao was foiled by China's first premier Zhou Enlai and Security Minister Luo Ruiqing. It also did not mention that Zhou was also on the hit list of the assassins. Chinese leaders and guests attended the premier of the spy movie on Thursday here at the Great Hall of the People - a venue usuallyreserved for important government meetings.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
