godisidog [none/use name]

I mean, if they did catch him, it’d make a whole lot of sense to remove any possibility of him further embarrassing the state by becoming a western propaganda mouthpiece, and you’ve got to remember this was a very extreme, near-existential crisis where radical measures were taken in response. Other leaders were also executed too, though after trials as far as I’m aware.

Not saying it happened, and we’ll never know either way, but it’s not a completely outlandish idea that the MSS would just off him had they found him.

It’s possible it was plainclothes MSS officers who pulled him away, not fellow civilians.

No evidence either way though, beyond Jiang Zemin very nonchalantly admitting that the CPC had no idea who he was, so…