/'_/\ /'_/| | \ `\ | | | ______ | `\ `\ | | | ______ /'______/\ | |\ `\ `| | | /______/\ | ___ \/| | | |\ `\| | | | ___ \ \ | /'/ \_|/ | | | `\ | | | | | \ \/| | | | __ |_|/' `\__|/' | | | | | | | | \__/_/| | | |__| | | | \/___| |/ China News Digest | |/__/ |/ \_______/(InfoBase June 4 Collection)|_______/ May 1, 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 june4-89.08t # of Lines --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. HEADLINE: Lights go out -- then the shooting starts .................125 2. HEADLINE: Turmoil in China; protests for democracy; bush deplores troop assault on China crowd ..............................................127 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. HEADLINE: Lights go out -- then the shooting starts .................125 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- BYLINE: By DAVID HOLLEY and JIM MANN, Times Staff Writers SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, June 4, 1989, Sunday, Home Edition DATELINE: BEIJING At 1 a.m. today, the "Goddess of Democracy," the Chinese students' version of the Statue of Liberty, was still looking down on the throngs at Tian An Men Square. Floodlights still lit up the Monument to the People's Heroes, the landmark in the center of the huge open space. Suddenly, at 1:45 a.m., the lights were shut off and the firing started. In the darkness, those at Tian An Men could hear the sound of rubber on pavement, of trucks and tanks moving into position. The tension among the tens of thousands of Chinese on the square was unbelievable. Then there were shots, more shots and more again. Young Chinese moved as fast as they could, frenetically in all directions, as if they did not know where or how to escape. Within five minutes, troops from the Chinese People's Liberation Army began moving into the north end of Tian An Men Square. As they did, the panic in the crowd found a direction. People were fleeing east towards the main boulevard out of the square. They fled by foot, on bicycles, by pedicab. It was not just the young: The panicked crowd included some middle-aged and elderly people, too. "They're firing at children," one man shouted. Some people ran into the Forbidden City, the old Imperial Palace complex north of the square. Foreign correspondents and other foreign witnesses found that some Chinese, in their haste and fury, reached back into their childhoods for the worst epithets they knew. "KMT fascists!" they shouted at the People's Liberation Army troops. "KMT fascists!" They were referring to the Kuomintang, the Nationalist Party of Chiang Kai-shek, once portrayed to young children in the People's Republic of China as the most evil force in the world. Chant Urges Strike "Ba gong, ba gong," others in the crowd chanted. It is the Chinese expression for workers and students to "Strike, strike." It was a curious gesture: At that moment, many in the crowd seemed to be wondering whether they would ever get back alive to their factories and universities. Amid the confusion, a tricycle rickshaw went by, being pedaled furiously towards an ambulance. On the back of it lay a man, apparently shot to death. At 2:30 a.m., the troops at the square were firing once again at demonstrators. Those remaining in the square hit the pavement. Within an hour, the troops opened fire once again. Troops had surrounded the square by 3:15 a.m., and by about 3:30 a.m. they had taken control of it. According to a foreign eyewitness, between 3:15 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., a line of hundreds of troops at the northeast corner of the square crouched and shot at the crowd. An American journalist who witnessed the firing saw half a dozen people apparently shot to death. "You have to give up all hope," students said over their loudspeaker in the square about 4 a.m., the Associated Press reported. "You have to give your life to the movement." Later, weeping students holding each other's hands began filing out. "There is no more time. We can't let any more blood flow," a student announced over their loudspeaker. "We must leave." A little later, troops cleared the center of the square around the Monument to the People's Heroes. Foreign witnesses said the "Goddess of Democracy" statue was still standing at 5 a.m. It was reportedly knocked down later. Between 5:30 and 5:40 a.m., a military convoy of about 100 vehicles, including 10 tanks with machine guns mounted on top, about 30 armored personnel carriers and 60 other vehicles coming from the east side of Beijing moved west along Changan Avenue past the Beijing Hotel toward the square. As the convoy passed the hotel, shots were fired every 10 or 15 seconds at bystanders along the streets. The facade of the hotel was hit by the gunfire. About 200 young Chinese were in one group in front of the hotel, and perhaps 2,000 Chinese civilians were standing on the south side of Changan Avenue outside of the troop cordon. This automatic-weapons fire along the main boulevard running east from the square was only a short distance from other tourist hotels and directly next to the Jianguomenwai compound where foreign diplomats and journalists live. For several minutes around 5:45 a.m., heavy automatic rifle fire could be heard coming from the direction of the square. The chaos extended beyond the shooting: -- A "kamikaze" civilian bus rushed into the troops at Tian An Men Square. It burst into flames, and the driver and other occupants apparently were killed. -- One of the first armored personnel carriers into Tian An Men Square was surrounded by the crowd, which began throwing burning objects into it, setting it afire. The three soldiers inside apparently managed to escape. -- An armored personnel carrier on Changan Avenue suddenly turned around and crushed a bicyclist. Chinese who could reach safety told eyewitnesses that they were shocked and wanted outside help. GRAPHIC: Photo, COLOR, Bloodied man holds soldier's helmet that fell in Beijing clash. Reuters Sidebar DEMONSTRATIONS -- CHINA; DEMOCRACY; CHINA -- MARTIAL LAW; MASSACRES -- CHINA; SHOOTINGS -- CHINA; CHINA -- GOVERNMENT; CHINA -- ARMED FORCES; PEKING (CHINA); TIAN AN MEN SQUARE --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. HEADLINE: Turmoil in China; protests for democracy; bush deplores troop assault on China crowd ..............................................127 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- BYLINE: By JAMES GERSTENZANG and DOYLE McMANUS, Times Staff Writers SOURCE: Los Angeles Times, June 4, 1989, Sunday, Home Edition DATELINE: KENNEBUNKPORT, Me. President Bush, in a deliberately strong reaction to the Chinese army's attack on demonstrators in Beijing, said Saturday that he deplores the action and warned that a continued crackdown will chill U.S.-Chinese relations. "I deeply deplore the decision to use force against peaceful demonstrators and the consequent loss of life," Bush said in a written statement issued at his summer home. "We have been urging and continue to urge nonviolence, restraint, and dialogue. Tragically, another course has been chosen," he said. "Again I urge a return to nonviolent means for dealing with the current situation." In a diplomatically worded warning to the Chinese leadership, Bush noted that the United States and China had succeeded in building "a constructive relationship beneficial to both countries," and added that the quality of those ties depends on continued reform. "I hope that China will rapidly return to the path of political and economic reform and conditions of stability so that this relationship, so important to both our peoples, can continue its growth," he said. The statement was Bush's strongest public comment yet on the tumult in China, where troops killed at least 100 demonstrators and perhaps many more, and reflected the Administration's alarm at reports of the bloodshed in Beijing -- and growing fear that the crackdown presages broader moves to repress political and economic reforms. Secretary of State James A. Baker III, echoing Bush's words, called the situation in Beijing "ugly and chaotic" and said the U.S. statement was intended to be "considerably stronger than what we've said heretofore." "It's important that the Chinese people not lose the social and economic progress, the developments they've made socially and economically over the past decade," Baker said in an interview on Cable News Network. "The United States government has heretofore expressed its concern to the Chinese government that the utmost restraint be used," he said. " . . . This is a matter of great concern to the American people. I suppose saying that is a signal." Blunter Terms An Administration official said the same message -- that continued repression would damage U.S.-Chinese relations -- was given, in somewhat blunter terms, to Chinese Ambassador Han Xu on Saturday by Undersecretary of State Robert M. Kimmitt. But officials acknowledged that, beyond the messages they have already sent conveying Bush's concern over the situation, there is little the United States can do. China receives no direct U.S. government aid, and its ruling Communist Party -- torn by a major struggle for power between reformers and conservatives -- is unlikely to place U.S. concerns at the top of its agenda. Sen. George J. Mitchell (D-Me.), who met with Bush on Saturday, noted dryly that the government of China "tends to take decisions independently of the United States government." Both Mitchell and Sen. William S. Cohen (R-Me.), who also visited the President, said they supported the Administration's position. Asked if there was anything more the United States could do, Cohen said, "I think 'deplore,' coming from the President, is pretty strong language." No Concrete Action Baker, in his television interview, refused to say whether the Administration would consider halting military cooperation with China or stop sharing industrial technology with the Beijing government as a result of the crackdown. The United States has sold military equipment, including helicopters and warship engines, to China. "Before we get into hypothetical situations, let's see how this most recent and extremely deplorable development unfolds," he said. "We should keep this in mind, that both sides in this exercised a significant degree of restraint for quite a period of time," he said. "And it is our hope that they will return to restraint." He said the Administration received reports that some demonstrators had thrown Molotov cocktails at army units, "so it would appear that there may be some violence being used here on both sides." But he added that the demonstration "for the most part has been very peaceful." Baker, in Washington, said he had relayed reports on the action from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing to Bush in Kennebunkport. Bush's deputy national security adviser, Robert M. Gates, was with the President at his summer retreat. Urged Restraint Bush and other Administration officials have urged restraint on both the Chinese government and the pro-democracy protesters since massive demonstrations for reform began in Beijing's Tian An Men Square last month. At a news conference in Boston on May 21, Bush applauded the student protesters and urged them to "fight for what you believe in," but also said he hoped they could avoid a confrontation with the army. "We do not exhort in a way that is going to stir up a military confrontation," he said. " . . . I do not want to see bloodshed." Two days later, Bush told a visiting leader of China's National People's Congress that a violent crackdown on the demonstrators would chill U.S.-Chinese relations, officials said. "We are strongly committed to democracy around the world," Bush said, according to a White house statement. "It is the underpinning of our being as a nation. I urge nonviolence and restraint in your present situation." Gerstenzang reported from Kennebunkport and McManus from Washington. BUSH, GEORGE; BAKER, JAMES A III; UNITED STATES -- FOREIGN RELATIONS -- CHINA; DEMONSTRATIONS -- CHINA; CHINA -- MARTIAL LAW; MASSACRES -- CHINA; CHINA -- ARMED FORCES +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 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 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+