wikileaks and June 4th
I respect Hou Dejian for both his commitment to democratic movement and
integrity, the latter is lacking among so many student leaders.
The following just came out and shows what the US government and perhaps even the media knew this all along and yet misreporting on massacre on Tiananmen square has continued for 22 years. Of course students (and soldiers) were killed in Beijing and that was absolutely wrong and should be condemned. But it's time to stop circulating made-up stories about the Tiananmen massacre just because they sound more dramatic and that the square is more symbolic.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/China+claims+over+Tiananmen+Square+backed/4891604/story.html
China's claims over Tiananmen Square backed
By Malcolm Moore, The Daily Telegraph June 3, 2011
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Secret cables from the United States embassy in Beijing have shown there was no bloodshed inside Tiananmen Square when China put down student pro-democracy demonstrations 22 years ago.
The cables, obtained by Wikileaks and released exclusively by The Daily Telegraph, partly confirm the Chinese government's account of the early hours of June 4, 1989. It has always insisted that soldiers did not massacre demonstrators inside the square.
Instead, Chinese soldiers opened fire on protesters outside the centre of Beijing as they fought their way towards the square from the west of the city.
Three cables were sent from the U.S. embassy on June 3 in the hours leading up to the final confrontation.
The cables described the "10,000 to 15,000 helmeted, armed troops" moving into the city, some of whom were "carrying automatic weapons".
At the same time, "elite airborne troops" and "tank units" were said to be moving up from the south.
The army came up against "an elaborate system of blockades", described in a cable from May 21, 1989, which allowed students to "control much of central Beijing".
Inside the square, a Chilean diplomat who was positioned next to a Red Cross station, was on hand to give his U.S. counterparts an eye-witness account of the final hours of the pro-democracy movement.
"He watched the military enter the square and did not observe any mass firing of weapons into the crowds, although sporadic gunfire was heard.
"He said that most of the troops which entered the square were armed only with anti-riot gear - truncheons and wooden clubs; they were backed up by armed soldiers," a cable from July 1989 said.
Leaders of the protest urged the students to leave the square, and the Chilean diplomat relayed that "once agreement was reached for the students to withdraw, linking hands to form a column, the students left the square through the south-east corner".
© Copyright (c) The Daily Telegraph
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