Deng’s Bad Health Evident; Daughter Says Death Is Near

More than once reported near death by journalists and foreign intelligence agencies, Chinese senior leader Deng Xiaoping survived to celebrate his 90th birthday in August.

But his deteriorating physical condition is clearly evident in recent photographs and television footage.

And last week, in an interview with the New York Times, even his favorite daughter said China should prepare for his death.

“His health declines day by day,” daughter Deng Rong said. “People have to understand that, at this point, he’s 90 years old, an old man. And someday there will be a day when he passes away.”

This week, Deng Rong postponed a trip to Paris and New York to promote her recent biography of her father. A spokeswoman for American publisher Harper-Collins said the trip has been rescheduled for early February.

The latest cycle of rumors about Deng’s deteriorating physical condition began more than a month ago, when Washington received reports that Deng was unconscious but in stable condition.

Last week, a Japanese newspaper reported that he had been admitted to a hospital and was near death. The Reuters news agency said this week that Deng had been treated at home for heart problems. And the Asian Wall Street Journal quoted sources claiming that the Chinese leader is in a coma.

Deng has not been seen in public since February, when the evening television news showed him, frail and slumped, attending a Chinese New Year’s reception in Shanghai.

Last week, the Shanghai Liberation Daily newspaper published a front-page photograph of a seated Deng, wrapped in blankets and wearing a cap, viewing fireworks in Beijing on Oct. 1, National Day. The caption of the photo, reportedly taken in Beijing’s Zhongnanhai leadership compound, said: “Deng Xiaoping in good health watching fireworks on the evening of National Day.”

But the slightly out-of-focus picture revealed a Deng even more slumped and weakened than in February.

Deng has been variously rumored to be suffering from cancer or Parkinson’s disease. He retired from his last official post in 1989.