Two decades after his downfall and four years after his death, reformist Chinese leader Zhao Ziyang (趙紫陽) has broken the official silence on the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, denouncing the killings of protesters as a “tragedy.”
In a memoir recorded secretly under house arrest, Zhao has challenged China’s cautious, current leaders just before the 20th anniversary of June 4, 1989, when troops crushed pro-democracy protests centered on Tiananmen Square in Beijing.
He praises Western-style democracy and denounces the armed quelling of the protests, when troops and tanks pushed down Changan Avenue, shooting demonstrators and onlookers.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“On the night of June 3, while sitting in the courtyard with my family, I heard intense gunfire,” Zhao says. “A tragedy to shock the world had not been averted.”
Zhao, who was head of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1989, rejects the government’s claim that the student protesters were part of an anti-Communist conspiracy.
“I had said at the time that most people were only asking us to correct our flaws, not attempting to overthrow our political system,” Zhao says in the book Prisoner of the State, to be published by Simon & Schuster in English this month ahead of the 20th anniversary.
The memoirs, about 30 hours of tape, were given to three confidants and smuggled out of China. A manuscript was obtained by Reuters.
Zhao’s account of CCP elders pushing him from power sheds rare light on the political warring behind the protests that shook China 20 years ago, culminating in his ouster and the crackdown that killed hundreds on the streets of Beijing.
“I told myself that no matter what, I refused to become the [CCP] general secretary who mobilized the military to crack down on students,” he says.
Zhao had his eyes fixed on China’s future when he secretively recorded his memories throughout years under house detention until his death in January 2005. He decries what he saw as the mistaken conservative path taken by the CCP after 1989 and argues for a gradual transition to Western-style democracy.
“In fact, it is the Western parliamentary democratic system that has demonstrated the most vitality,” Zhao says. “If we don’t move toward this goal, it will be impossible to resolve the abnormal conditions in China’s market economy.”
An American scientist convicted of lying to US authorities about payments from China while he was at Harvard University has rebuilt his research lab in Shenzhen, China, to pursue technology the Chinese government has identified as a national priority: embedding electronics into the human brain. Charles Lieber, 67, is among the world’s leading researchers in brain-computer interfaces. The technology has shown promise in treating conditions such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and restoring movement in paralyzed people. It also has potential military applications: Scientists at the Chinese People’s Liberation Army have investigated brain interfaces as a way to engineer super soldiers by boosting
Indonesian police have arrested 13 people after shocking images of alleged abuse against small children at a daycare center went viral, sparking outrage across the nation, officials said on Monday. Police on Friday last week raided Little Aresha, a daycare center in Yogyakarta on Java island, following a report from a former employee. CCTV footage circulating on social media showed children, most younger than two, lying on the floor wearing only diapers, their hands and feet bound with rags. The police have confirmed that the footage is authentic. Police said they also found 20 children crammed into a room just 3m by 3m. “So
Jailed media entrepreneur Jimmy Lai (黎智英) has been awarded Deutsche Welle’s (DW) freedom of speech award for his contribution to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The German public broadcaster on Thursday said Lai would be presented in absentia with the 12th iteration of the award on June 23 at the DW Global Media Forum in Bonn. Deutsche Welle director-general Barbara Massing praised the 78-year-old founder of the now-shuttered news outlet Apple Daily for standing “unwaveringly for press freedom in Hong Kong at great personal risk.” “With Apple Daily, he gave journalists a platform for free reporting and a voice to the democracy movement in
PHILIPPINE COMMITTEE: The head of the committee that made the decision said: ‘If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct’ A Philippine congressional committee on Wednesday ruled that there was “probable cause” to impeach Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte after hearing allegations of unexplained wealth, misuse of state funds and threats to have the president assassinated. The unanimous decision of the 53-member committee in the Philippine House of Representatives sends the two impeachment complaints to deliberations and voting by the entire lower chamber, which has more than 300 lawmakers. The complaints centered on Duterte’s alleged illegal use and mishandling of intelligence funds from the vice president’s office, and from her time as education secretary under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Duterte and the
RSS