Tiananmen Square Protests and Crackdown

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Historic Security Council: June 5, 1989
Tiananmen Square Protests and Crackdown
This image, which you may be familiar with, was taken during the aftermath of a pro-democracy
protest in 1989 in the historic Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the capital of the People’s Republic
of China (PRC). While there were other protests like this one around the country, the one in
Beijing was by far the largest, the most widely covered in the media, and perhaps the most
memorable, and it has been characterized by PBS Frontline and others as “the largest prodemocracy demonstration in the history of China's communist regime.”
Background
The protests started shortly after the death of Hu Yaobang, who was the General Secretary for
the Communist Party (the only party allowed by PRC law) from late 1982 until early 1987. Hu
was seen as a reformer by many Chinese, as he had been in favor of greater freedom of the press,
lessening the influence of the Communist party, and a turning away from Maoism. These ideas,
among many other ideas that were considered radical, made him popular among the Chinese
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citizenry, but made him grossly unpopular among his peers in the Communist Party, which
eventually lead to his resignation. The straw that arguably broke the camel’s back was Hu’s
refusal to crackdown on a similar student protest in 1986.
Hu Yaobang
The protest in Beijing was started by students from the capital’s
universities and was for the purpose of demanding that some of
Hu’s reforms and ideas that never were put into practice be
implemented. This smaller protest eventually grew to include local
workers, intellectuals, and many others who sought reform.
Protests in Tiananmen Square The protests started around mid-April, with protesters growing more numerous and more
organized as time went on. Eventually, they published a list of their “seven demands,” which
were as follows:
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(1) Affirm as correct Hu Yaobang’s views on democracy and freedom
(2) Admit that the campaigns against spiritual pollution and bourgeois liberalization had been wrong;
(3) Publish information on the income of state leaders and their family members;
(4) End the ban on privately run newspapers and permit freedom of speech;
(5) Increase funding for education and raise intellectuals’ pay;
(6) End restrictions on demonstrations in Beijing; and
(7) Hold democratic elections to replace government officials who made bad policy decisions.
The protesters delivered these demands on the day that a memorial service for Hu was being held
in Beijing. These demands were not well received by the higher ups in the Communist Party.
They viewed these ideas as being western and bourgeois, and took it as a sign that these students
were trying to betray China to the west and wanted to overthrow the government. The protesters
tried other ways of getting the government’s attention, up to and including hunger strikes and
refusal to abandon the square. When Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev came to Beijing that year,
the government had hoped to use Tiananmen Square to welcome him. However, the protesters in
the square meant that they could not use it, which was seen as an embarrassment for the Chinese
government. This was even more embarrassing because they were hosting the first official
meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest communist countries in decades.
On May 20, after over a month of protests, the government declared martial law and sent troops
into Beijing. However, the troops were ordered to not fire on anyone, and did nothing to
circumvent the makeshift barricades put together by protesters.
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June 3-5, 1989: The Crackdown
This stretched until the night of June 3, when soldiers in armored vehicles attempted to
storm through the barricades, many of them shooting protesters in the process. The protesters
scattered as the soldiers started firing indiscriminately. The ensuing events of the next 48 hours
are encapsulated below in this excerpt from the PBS Frontline timeline:
June 3
The Assault Begins
The PLA clashes with Beijingers.
As word spreads that hundreds of thousands of troops are
approaching from all four corners of the city, Beijingers flood
the streets to block them, as they had done two weeks earlier.
People set up barricades at every major interstion. At about
10:30 p.m., near the Muxidi apartment buildings -- home to
high-level Party officials and their families -- the citizens
become aggressive as the army tries to break through their barricades. They yell at the soldiers and some
throw rocks; someone sets a bus on fire. The soldiers start firing on the unarmed civilians with AK-47s
loaded with battlefield ammunition.
"The first rounds of fire catch everybody by surprise," recalls human rights observer Timothy Brook. "The
people in the streets don't expect this to happen." The wounded are taken to nearby hospitals on bicycles
and pull-carts, but the hospital staff are unequipped to deal with the severe wounds. Muxidi sees the
highest casualties of the night; an untold number of people are killed.
June 4
The Massacre Continues
The last protestors leave the square.
At about 1:00 a.m., the People's Liberation Army finally
reaches Tiananmen Square and waits for orders from the
government. The soldiers have been told not to open
fire, but they have also been told that they must clear the
square by 6:00 a.m. -- with no exceptions or delays.
They make a final offer of amnesty if the few thousand
remaining students will leave. About 4:00 a.m., student
leaders put the matter to a vote: Leave the square, or stay and face the consequences. "It was clear to me
that they stay votes were much, much, much stronger," recalls eyewitness John Pomfret, who was near the
students. "But Feng Congde, who was a student leader at the time, said, 'The go's have it.'" The students
vacate the square under the gaze of thousands of soldiers.
Later that morning, some people -- believed to be the parents of the student protestors -- try to re-enter
Tiananmen Square via Chang'an Boulevard. The soldiers order them to leave, and when they don't, open
fire, taking down dozens of people at a time. According to eyewitness accounts, the citizens seem not to
believe the army is firing on them with real ammunition.
"[A]fter a little while, like 40 minutes, people would gather up their nerve again and would crawl back to
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the corner and start screaming at the soldiers, and then the commander would eventually give another
signal … and they'd shoot more in the backs," remembers journalist Jan Wong, who watched it all from her
hotel room above the boulevard. "And this went on more than half a dozen times in the day." When rescue
workers try to approach the street to remove the wounded, they, too, are shot.
No one knows for certain how many people died over the two days. The Chinese Red Cross initially
reported 2,600, then quickly retracted that figure under intense pressure from the government. The
official Chinese government figure is 241 dead, including soldiers, and 7,000 wounded.
June 5
A Moment That Fascinated the World
An unidentified man stops the tanks.
By the morning of June 5, the army is in complete control
of Beijing. But when all protest in the city seems silenced,
the world witnessed one final act of defiance.
About midday, as a column of tanks slowly moves along
Chang'an Boulevard toward Tiananmen Square, an
unarmed young man carrying shopping bags suddenly
steps out in front of the tanks. Instead of running over him, the first tank tries to go around, but the young
man steps in front of it again. They repeat this maneuver several more times before the tank stops and
turns off its motor. The young man climbs on top of the tank and speaks to the driver before jumping
back down again. Soon, the young man is whisked to the side of the road by an unidentified group of
people and disappears into the crowd.
To this day, who he was and what became of him remains a mystery.
The square was cleared and the demonstrations were over, crushed by the weight of the Chinese
armed forces. However, the video footage and still image of the Tank Man’s gesture of protest
went viral around the world and brought even greater sympathy to the people of Beijing from the
wider world and immortalized the brutality of the Chinese government on the world stage.
In the pages to follow, please find some short news articles from the days of the crackdown, as
well as some resources for additional perspective and information.
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Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
June 3, 1989 Saturday Late Edition
DENG STRUGGLES TO MAINTAIN
CONTROL; CHINA
By PETER ELLINGSEN, HERALD CORRESPONDENT
BEIJING, Friday: The geriatric coup by conservative Chinese leaders -designed
to purge liberals from the Government and end the pro-democracy movement is proving difficult to hold together.
Today, as students and intellectuals decided to launch a new round of hunger
strikes before 80,000 people in Tiananmen Square, there were signs that top
leader Mr Deng Xiaoping was struggling to maintain control of the hardline old
men he called on to shore up his position and quell demonstrations.
Mr Deng, widely rumoured to be back in his home province of Sichuan, retains
the final say, although now it appears his authority is being undermined by an
elderly clique, led by President Yang Shangkun, that not only wants to end the
student uprising but also turn back the clock on Mr Deng's economic reforms
and tolerance for Western ways.
Having disbanded the progressive think-tanks and reformists agencies fostered
under the beleaguered Party Secretary, Mr Zhao Ziyang, the veteran party
figures are now said to be intent on pushing Mr Deng out of his key position as
head of the Central Military Commission so that Mr Yang can take over.
This would allow the crusty old men Mr Deng forced from office in 1987 to
return and promote central planning and Marxist ideology, values China has
abandoned in a decade of reform.
The scenario involves Mr Li Xiannian reclaiming the presidential post he lost
under Mr Deng's leadership, with other conservative patriarchs, including the
chairman of the Central Advisory Committee, Mr Chen Yun, his ally Mr Bo Yibo
and one-time National People's Congress head Mr Peng Zhen, all returning to
centre stage.
As the infighting among senior leaders goes on, the Army has moved in closer to
central Beijing and the 10,000 or so students continuing an illegal occupation of
Tiananmen Square.
Students and intellectuals said today there would be a series of 72-hour hunger
strikes at the square until China's parliament, the National People's Congress,
met to discuss democratic reforms on June 20.
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A popular pop singer, Hou Ji Dian, was among the first group to begin the
protest fast, which is expected to draw more people into the square before the
Army moves in.
One of the student organisers, Miss Chai Liang, 23, a psychology major from
Beijing Normal University, told a large crowd of supporters in central Beijing
that rather than giving up the protest, demonstrators were prepared to die for
democracy.
"I love life but if one or 10 or 20 have to die for good of everyone and
democracy, it's worth it, " she said.
Tiny Miss Chai, dressed in shorts and running shoes, became tearful when
explaining the backing she had received from residents.
"We have had great results so far, but also many difficulties and setbacks," she
said. "We're not disappointed that many students have gone home because they
have been awakened and will spread the word.
"To develop democracy is to develop China."
With an intense power struggle going on at the top level, it is unclear what the
final outcome will be, although Western diplomatic sources assessed the
conservative coalition today as "extremely fragile" and predicted it may prevail
in the short term but was unlikely to survive until the end of the year.
There was speculation that although Mr Zhao, attacked for his opposition to the
introduction of martial law two weeks ago, was in disgrace and facing dismissal,
final charges would concentrate on his "trying to divide the party" rather than
the more serious allegation of being a "counterrevolutionary".
The Globe and Mail
(Canada)
CHINA: THE TIANANMEN MASSACRE
Hospital emergency wards resound with victims' tales of horror
DATELINE: June 5, 1989 Monday; Beijing, China (Reuters)
The trauma of slaughter showed on the faces of hundreds of Beijing citizens waiting
outside emergency clinics at the city's hospitals yesterday.
'I was lucky,' said a middle-aged man outside the Sino-Japanese Friendship
Hospital in northeast Beijing, his arm in a sling after being hit by a bullet. 'Six came
with me here in the ambulance. Four are dead, including a child and two lady
students. All of us were shot about two this morning when we went outside our
homes in Nanheyuan to see what was going on,' he said.
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Hospital reports put the number of dead at more than 50 but estimates by Beijing
residents range from more than 1,000 to 10,000. The official media said security
personnel were killed but did not give details.
A doctor at the Sino-Japanese hospital said staff had been ordered not to give
information to reporters.
Citizens waiting outside were not so reticent.
'Now I know the real meaning of fascism,' said a student at Petroleum University
who left the square before midnight Saturday, escaping the killings.
'Two of my colleagues there when the soldiers moved in said they issued a warning
that all should leave the square but did not give them enough time. A few minutes
later they started firing into the air then at the students.
'We must overthrow this cruel government. We must have a general strike.' A
middle-aged man nearby added: 'We want the United Nations to come and
investigate who are these counter-revolutionary thugs the government keeps
talking about.' Official accounts blame the disturbances on counter-revolutionaries.
'The official news is all lies. Please tell the world of what the army has done. It no
longer deserves to be called the people's army; it is the army of a few families,' he
said.
In another hospital, a copper bullet was being extracted from the lower back of a
man in his 50s, who grimaced with pain, his mouth full of gauze.
'He was cycling to work this morning as usual,' one of the staff said. 'The troops
opened fire indiscriminately.' When the bullet was pulled out, a nurse showed it to
her colleagues.
'This is the government's present to an innocent worker. Is he a counterrevolutionary too?' Reaction among bystanders outside was a mixture of shock and
a call for revenge.
'We must punish this illegal government,' said one worker. 'We should strike or at
least work as little as possible. This will hurt China's economy but it is necessary to
get rid of this government.' Another was more fatalistic.
'The Beijing people will never forget this day,' he said. 'But what can we do? We
earn little and have no power. The government has the guns.
'We must eat, so we must work.'
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The Globe and Mail
(Canada)
June 5, 1989
CHINA: THE TIANANMEN MASSACRE
Canada demands end to 'senseless killing'
Canada yesterday demanded that China end the "senseless killing" of
its own citizens, calling the actions by the country's military
inexcusable.
"We can only express horror and outrage at the senseless violence and the tragic loss
of life resulting from the indiscriminate and brutal use of force against the students
and citizens of Beijing," External Affairs Minister Joe Clark said in a statement.
Hundreds of people were killed when the military attacked students and
civilians in Tiananmen Square yesterday, mowing them down with automatic
weapons or crushing them with tanks.
"We are witnessing violence at a scale and scope that can only shock and offend all
Canadians," the statement said. "The actions of the Chinese military are inexcusable."
The statement said, "it is evident that thousands have been killed and many more
wounded."
At noon yesterday, the Department of External Affairs called in Ambassador Zhang
Wenpu to convey the reaction of the Canadian government to the situation.
Canada's statement urged the Beijing government to take immediate steps
to stop "the aggressive and senseless killing by its armed forces."
The statement advises Canadians to postpone trips to Beijing until the situation grows
calmer, and tourists currently there are being warned by the embassy to remain
indoors until further notice.
A duty officer reached at the Department of External Affairs in Ottawa yesterday said
the government had not received word that any Canadians had been wounded in
yesterday's assault.
"As far as we know all the Canadians are safe," said the officer, who refused to give
his name.
He said there are 300 Canadians registered with the Canadian Embassy in Beijing.
That number includes university students and people working there but not Canadian
tourists. He said the majority of vacationers travel with tour groups, which do not
always notify the embassy of their presence.
It remains to be seen whether the situation in China will affect trade with Canada.
Canadian exports to China nearly doubled in 1988, rising to $2.6-billion from $1.4
billion in 1987. Imports from China rose to $955-million in 1988 from $812-million the
preceding year.
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Further Reading
Timeline of events (BBC World): http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-27404764
Kate Phillips, “Springtime in Tiananmen Square, 1989.” The Atlantic, May 2014. Accessed
21 September 2014. A powerful, vivid eyewitness account.
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/05/springtime-in-tiananmen-square-1989/371542/
5 Things You Should Know About the Tiananmen Square Massacre (Time Magazine)
http://time.com/2822290/tiananmen-square-massacre-anniversary/
Lim, Louisa. “After 25 Years Of Amnesia, Remembering A Forgotten Tiananmen.”
National Public Radio (NPR), April 15, 2014. Accessed 21 September 2014.
http://www.npr.org/2014/04/15/301433547/after-25-years-of-amnesia-remembering-a-forgotten-tiananmen
“The Memory of Tiananmen, 1989.” (PBS Frontline)
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/cron/
The…timeline tracks how the protests began in April among university students in Beijing, spread across
the nation, and ended on June 4 with a final deadly assault by an estimated force of 300,000 soldiers from
People's Liberation Army (PLA). Throughout these weeks, China's top leaders were deeply divided over
how to handle the unrest, with one faction advocating peaceful negotiation and another demanding a
crackdown. Excerpts from their statements, drawn from The Tiananmen Papers, reveal these internal
divisions.
PBS Frontline also features a full-length documentary about this incident:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tankman/view/ (90 minutes)
“Tank Man” video feed (CNN)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFzeNAHEhU
Raw video of the so-called Tank Man’s protest action against a column of tanks in the street on
June 5, 1989. (3 minutes)
Tiananmen Square Fast Facts (CNN)
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/15/world/asia/tiananmen-square-fast-facts/
In-depth blog post: http://dannyboyone.wordpress.com/tiananmen-square-june-4th-incident/
Article from The Guardian marking the occasion of the 25th anniversary:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/03/tiananmen-square-protests-crackdown-25-years-on
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Questions to consider when preparing for debate on this topic:
Peace and Security
• Canadian officials have publicly rebuked China for using its military to repress peaceful
demonstrators and killing many thousands in the process. Should the United Nations
Security Council issue a strongly worded resolution condemning China’s actions? Why
or why not? What may be done in a symbolic way to signal to China that the international
community is offended by the state-sponsored violence in Beijing?
• What are the implications of China’s domestic political instability for the security of the
region? Does a destabilized China threaten to make East Asia and the western Pacific
more dangerous for other countries? How so? What if anything should the UN Security
Council do to manage the risks associated with regional instability?
• The UN Security Council, which has primary responsibility for the maintenance of
international peace and security, may also deal with grave human rights violations
(http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/humanrights/). With this in mind, please consider the
questions in the next section as well.
Human Rights, Democratic Principles, and Economic Considerations
• The UN Security Council does not usually take up questions about human rights, but in
this case a use of military force by the state to crush popular demonstrations may be said
to have violated Chinese citizens’ human rights (right to freedom of expression, right to
freedom of assembly, etc.) – and the massacre that resulted has horrified the international
community and may constitute yet another type of human rights violation. Does this raise
concerns for members of the Security Council who wish to use their seats on the Council
to challenge (or support) China in this situation?
• There is a relatively new emerging market economy in China in 1989. Considerable
research and prevailing international norms suggest the importance of cross-border
investment and free trade as sources of economic growth and development (at the
national level) and human development (improvements to the well-being of individual
persons and communities in the developing country). Will the unrest and state-sponsored
violence in China affect the prospects for trade with and investment in China? If so, how?
What, if anything, can be done to reassure foreign investors and member-states that have
trading relationships with China? Can the Security Council play a constructive role in the
maintenance of economic stability of China (and East Asia) in the wake of the troubles in
Beijing?
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