the strong rebuff of some tumultuous cloud

Several thousand retired servicemen on Hainan Island demonstrated against Teng Hsiao-ping's economic policies last month at the instigation of Hsu Shih-yu, deputy chairman of the Chinese Communist Party's Central Advisory Committee and a standing member of the party's Military Affairs Commission, according to an official report intercepted by the Republic of China's intelligence workers on the mainland.

Ooh, I love that book!

a weak negative