/'_/\ /'_/| | \ `\ | | | ______ | `\ `\ | | | ______ /'______/\ | |\ `\ `| | | /______/\ | ___ \/| | | |\ `\| | | | ___ \ \ | /'/ \_|/ | | | `\ | | | | | \ \/| | | | __ |_|/' `\__|/' | | | | | | | | \__/_/| | | |__| | | | \/___| |/ China News Digest | |/__/ |/ \_______/(InfoBase June 4 Collection)|_______/ May 13, 1993 **The CND InfoBase Project collects, among other China-related information, materials and/or bibliographical reference to matericals about the Beijing Massacre on June 4, 1989. Please refer to the trailer for more information. No. Subject june3-89.13t # of Lines --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. HEADLINE: VIOLENCE FINALLY FLARES IN PEKING AS TROOPS USE TEARGAS .. 132 2. HEADLINE: REUTER WORLD NEWS HIGHLIGHTS 0900 GMT JUNE 3 ............... 9 3. HEADLINE: REUTER WORLD NEWS HIGHLIGHTS 1300 GMT JUNE 3 ............... 8 4. HEADLINE: CHINA SAYS SMALL GROUP, TOP COMMUNISTS PLANNED CHAOS .... 67 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. HEADLINE: VIOLENCE FINALLY FLARES IN PEKING AS TROOPS USE TEARGAS .. 132 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE: The Reuter Library Report, June 3, 1989, Saturday, BC cycle DATELINE: PEKING, June 3 China's spring of protest began with the death on April 15 of dismissed Communist Party leader Hu Yaobang and gained momentum from the visit of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev for the first Sino-Soviet summit meeting in 30 years. Hu, seen by students as a reformist, was dismissed by senior leader Deng Xiaoping under pressure from hardline leaders in January, 1987, for failing to control student unrest. His death of a heart attack at the age of 73 set off mourning protests at restive Peking campuses. The pro-democracy protests went on as China played host to a meeting of the Asian Development Bank and to Gorbachev, whom students praised as a champion of political reform. Following is a chronology of the protests: April 17 - Protests begin at Tiananmen Square in central Peking as students call for democracy and reforms. Crowds of up to 100,000 drawn to city centre despite official warnings. April 22 - Official funeral for Hu in Great Hall of the People adjacent to Tiananmen. 50,000 students confront police in the square outside but later leave peacefully. Rioting and looting in Xian and Changsha. Independent newspaper taken over by authorities in Shanghai. April 24 - Students in Peking begin classroom strike. April 26 - People's Daily publishes major Communist Party attack on protesters, angering students. April 27 - 50,000 students defy authorities and march to Tiananmen, drawing supportive crowds of up to one million. May 2 - Leaders of an unofficial and illegal student union ride bicycles to government and party headquarters to demand leaders meet them or face further mass protests on May 4. In Shanghai, 10,000 protesters march to government headquarters. May 4 - On 70th anniversary of historic Chinese patriotic movement, students march to Tiananmen Square as ADB meeting opens in Great Hall. Crowd in square grows to 100,000. Students march in Shanghai and nine other cities. Party leader Zhao Ziyang tells ADB delegates protests will fade. May 13 - 1,000 students, later to grow to 3,000, begin week-long hunger strike in Tiananmen for democracy. Zhao makes televised appeal, ignored by students, to end protest because of summit. May 15 - Gorbachev arrives at Peking airport as protests continue in Tiananmen. Officials move welcoming ceremony from square to airport. May 16 - Gorbachev and Deng meet at Great Hall in formal reconciliation between Soviet Union and China. More than 250,000 mass in Tiananmen and nearby streets. Protests spread to Shanghai and five provincial capitals. Appeal to end protests from State Council, highest government body, broadcast on loudspeakers in Tiananmen. May 17 - A million people jam central Peking. Protests reported in seven cities, including Shanghai. Gorbachev visit to Forbidden City cancelled and Great Hall news conference shifted to western suburbs because of crowds. May 18 - Gorbachev visits Shanghai on last day of trip. Protests continue in central Peking. May 19 - In a move just short of martial law, government moves troops into Peking to halt the protests but protesters prevent them from reaching the city centre. Some clashes reported on city outskirts between protesters and troops but troops generally show little enthusiasm for their task. May 20 - Martial law imposed in parts of Peking including curbs on news reporting. City appears in open revolt with students gaining support from other sectors of society and roadblocks being set up to stop convoys of troops reaching Tiananmen where tens of thousands still gather. May 21 - One million people demonstrate in Hong Kong in support of Peking's pro-democracy movement. May 22 - Communist Party spokesman says he cannot confirm whether Zhao is still party general secretary. May 23 - More than 100,000 march in Peking to demand removal of Premier Li Peng, hardliner who ordered in the troops. Mao Tsetung's portrait defaced, but demonstrators deny responsibility. May 25 - Official news media brand student rebels as counter-revolutionaries. Foreign Ministry says Zhao is still party chief. Li Peng appears in public for first time since he ordered martial law. Wan Li, chairman of China's parliament and an ally of Zhao, returns early from U.S. trip but stays in Shanghai, officially for medical treatment. May 26 - Western diplomats say politburo is reported to have purged Zhao and three other pro-reform leaders. Student leaders vote to continue and even intensify their protests. May 27 - Wan Li backs Li Peng. Students call for mass protests the following day. "We hope for at least a million," a student leader says. May 28 - Massive crowds fail to reappear; 50,000 turn out in Peking to continue the call for democracy; 100,000 march in Shanghai. Another massive demonstration in support of pro-democracy protests takes place in Hong Kong, however. Crowd estimates vary from half a million to 1.5. million. Students in square decide to continue their protests until at least June 20, date of a scheduled meeting of the standing committee of China's parliament. May 29 - Number in square falls to 2,000 tired and hungry students, the lowest since occupation began. Speech by President Yang Shangkung released to reporters says: "There is no way we can retreat." The term "bourgeois liberalism" is raised for the first time in two years against Western political ideas. May 30 - Students unveil a 10-metre-high (30 foot) rough copy of New York's Statue of Liberty in Tiananmen called "The Goddess of Democracy." Numbers swell again to view statue. May 31 - Office workers and peasants stage state-sponsored pro-government demonstrations at which students are described as "traitorous bandits". June 1 - Official People's Daily omits Zhao's name from list of top leaders. Authorities declare almost total news blackout for foreign media. June 2 - Students from Nanking begin "Long March" to join colleagues in Peking. June 3 - Thousands of unarmed soldiers charge towards Tiananmen but are thrown back in disarray by citizens. Later, teargas is used and ugly, running clashes take place a few hundred yards from the square. Martial-law headquarters issues stern warnings that soldiers and police have "right to use all methods" to deal with protesters. Several hundred workers hurl stones and bricks at the Great Hall. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. HEADLINE: REUTER WORLD NEWS HIGHLIGHTS 0900 GMT JUNE 3 ............... 9 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE: The Reuter Library Report, June 3, 1989, Saturday, BC cycle DATELINE: PEKING Chinese troops fired teargas to break up crowds of pro-democracy demonstrators near Peking's Tiananmen Square but protesters fought back with bricks and bottles in running battles, witnesses said. Behind the Great Hall of the People, troops armed with batons tried to force their way through crowds of unarmed civilians surrounding them. Students and workers retaliated and pandemonium broke out in the worst violence since China's democracy movement began seven weeks ago. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. HEADLINE: REUTER WORLD NEWS HIGHLIGHTS 1300 GMT JUNE 3 ............... 8 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE: The Reuter Library Report, June 3, 1989, Saturday, BC cycle DATELINE: PEKING China's martial-law headquarters issued stern warnings to thousands of anti-government demonstrators after clashes with troops using teargas and truncheons in central Peking. Despite the warnings, several hundred workers hurled stones and bricks at the Great Hall of the People, the seat of China's parliament, in the first serious violence since a student -led democracy movement began seven weeks ago. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. HEADLINE: CHINA SAYS SMALL GROUP, TOP COMMUNISTS PLANNED CHAOS .... 67 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE: The Reuter Library Report, June 3, 1989, Saturday, PM cycle BYLINE: By William Kazer DATELINE: PEKING, June 3 China's official media on Saturday scathingly attacked a "small group" they accused of plotting to overthrow communist rule and said the group had help from the highest level of the party. The front-page article, printed in every major newspaper in the Chinese capital and read in full on state television and radio, also accused the plotters of getting help from abroad. The newspapers did not refer to an attempt by troops to capture Tiananmen Square early on Saturday to end a three-week occupation by students. "The chaos created by an extremely small group was planned long ago," said the article, unusual in that it was signed by the government's propaganda department and given nearly an entire page in the eight-page People's Daily. "The objective of this extremely small group was to negate the leadership of the Communist Party and negate the Socialist system." The article did not name embattled Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang but it said that during a six-week campaign for democracy, students had obtained detailed information of central committee meetings. "During the student campaign, an extremely small number of people who knew top secrets of the central committee, sent emissaries to universities and Tiananmen Square...to stir up trouble. "Sometimes, only hours after the politburo met and before any official statement had been made, matters which were discussed were revealed at universities," it said. "Opposing views of central level leaders were leaked to the masses and this created serious ideological chaos." The article also defended martial law, declared in parts of Peking on May 20, calling the measure "misunderstood". Zhao, a 69-year-old reformer and once the protege of senior leader Deng Xiaoping, has not been seen in public for more than two weeks and is widely believed to be the loser of a bitter power struggle with party hardliners. The article also said that those responsible for chaos were helped by unidentified elements both at home and abroad. It did not elaborate. The attack did not mention China's most prominent dissident, astrophysiscist Fang Lizhi, but it hinted that he was linked to the turmoil. It referred to academics guilty of "bourgeois liberalism", a catch-phrase for Western ideas that has been used against Fang in the past. It appeared to refer to his open letter early this year calling for the release of China's best-known political prisoner, Wei Jingsheng, who was jailed in 1979. Ren Wanding, another dissident who said this week he feared arrest, was specifically attacked for calling the government guilty of using "high pressure" tactics. Meanwhile, state television quoted China's official trade federation as calling for action against a newly-formed workers' organisation that has not been sanctioned by the government. Workers have formed an association which they say should promote coordination among labourers. Its leaders have said three members were jailed briefly and released this week. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Executive Editor: Bing Wen in Ottawa, Canada | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | China News Digest (CND) InfoBase covers the following areas: | | History : WWII, Cultural Revolution, June 4, Olympics | | Service : visa/PR, PRC-doc, tax, insurance, travel/living | | Academics : job, conference/workshop, societies, projects | | Other : org intro, book review, community activities | | ------ * ------ * ------ | | To contribute, please send to CND-IB@CND.ORG | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+