tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-105065702011-04-21T15:10:19.854-07:00mazafakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05039296850043238105noreply@blogger.comBlogger11100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10506570.post-1107107483472564982005-01-30T09:50:00.000-08:002005-01-30T09:51:23.473-08:00NEW YORK (Reuters) - Beijing Political Correspondent Benjamin Kang Lim, who has some of the best contacts in China and its Communist Party, put Reuters far ahead of the competition Jan. 16 with word that Zhao Ziyang, toppled as party chief in 1989 for opposing the army's suppression of the Tiananmen Square democracy protests, had died after a series of strokes. <br />Ben alerted the news based on a source close to Zhao's family but was later quoting relatives of the purged leader on the record while other news services were still citing Chinese official media. <br />Ben had been tracking Zhao's health through his contacts since last April, when he reported that he had been suffering from pneumonia. Zhao was under house arrest for almost 15 years. "He is free at last," his daughter Wang Yannan said in a statement obtained by Reuters following Zhao's death. <br /><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/10506570-110710748347256498?l=naturereiv.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>mazafakahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05039296850043238105noreply@blogger.com4