__ __ /'_/\ /'_/| | \ `\ | | | ______ | `\ `\ | | | ______ /'______/\ | |\ `\ `| | | /______/\ | ___ \/| | | |\ `\| | | | ___ \ \ | /'/ \_|/ | | | `\ | | | | | \ \/| | | | __ |_|/' `\__|/' | | | | | | | | \__/_/| | | |__| | | | \/___| |/ China News Digest | |/__/ |/ \_______/(InfoBase June 4 Collection)|_______/ May 16, 1994 **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 june5-89.03t # of Lines --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. China News Agency Staff Pay Tribute to Beijing Dead ................. 50 2. Beijingers Show Courage Beyond Belief, Say "Now We Have Unity"....... 58 3. Chinese Leaders Reviled in World`s Leading Newspapers ............... 74 4. Anger, Unrest and Demonstrations in Chinese Provinces ............... 91 5. U.S. Imposes Sanctions on China amid World Outrage over Killings ....165 6. Soldiers Laughed as They Killed Tiananmen Crowds, Witness ........... 67 7. Defiant Chinese Civilians COnfront the Army ......................... 97 8. Tanks with Blazing Guns, Armoured Convoys Patrol Beijing ............107 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. China News Agency Staff Pay Tribute to Beijing Dead ................. 50 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Reuter, June 5, 1989 By: B. Y. Wong Staff at China's state news agency in Hong Kong paid tribute on Monday to people killed in the violent suppression of student protests in Beijing, a sign of growing divisions within China's official institutions. About 90 employees, most of them from Hong Kong and about a dozen from China, filed out of the New China News Agency building wearing black armbands and carrying a banner that said: "Our condolences to our compatriots who died in Beijing. " Some wept during a tribute of 10 minutes silence on the pavement in front of the agency, Beijing's de facto consulate in the British colony which reverts to Chinese rule in 1997. Three thousand clergy, lay church workers and students wearing white headbands staged a mock funeral procession from the business district towards the agency building. A van draped in white, the Chinese colour of mourning, and bearing a wreath of white flowers in the local style of a hearse led a column along with 200 priests and nuns. One organiser, Presbyterian Reverend Carver Yue, said: "Words cannot describe our deep feeling of grief for what happened in China...We condemn absolutely the shootings." The marchers said they would read a "message of grief" at the agency office, then attend mass in a nearby park to be given by Anglican Bishop Peter Kwong. Hundreds of people filed past the 22-floor building during the day, signing a condolence book placed there by a protest group. Mourning wreaths of white and yellow flowers lay on the ground. Posters placed by protesters on the front gate said: "Blood will be paid for with blood." and "We condemn the military crackdown." Passing drivers honked their vehicle horns to show support for people mown down by machineguns in Beijing's Tiananmen square at the weekend, ending seven weeks of protests for democratic reforms. The China News Service, a semi-offical Beijing news agency, sent a black-bordered message in Chinese characters to subscribers by facsimile transmission from its Hong Kong office saying: "Our deep condolences to our compatriots who died in Beijing. From some of the staff." Enraged Hong Kong students presented petitions with 50,000 signatures to the consulates of the United States, Canada, Japan, France, West Germany and Australia asking them to help stop China using the army against its own people. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Beijingers Show Courage Beyond Belief, Say "Now We Have Unity"....... 58 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Reuter, June 5, 1989 Angry citizens of Beijing are fighting against tanks and machineguns with medieval weapons, fists and a courage that defies belief. Many are not merely risking their lives, but seem to be offering their bodies to bullets as if in some ritual blood sacrifice. When the People's Liberation Army stormed into central Beijing in the early hours of Sunday, it seemed terror would silence all opposition. Instead, crowds including old ladies and courting couples poured out of their homes to chant "bandits" at the troops. On Tiananmen Square, members of the "dare-to-die brigade" -- young single workers who had pledged to defend student demonstrators to the death -- armed themselves with puny clubs and rocks on Saturday night before troops turned the area into a killing field. Witnesses saw a busload of protesters charging towards the square even after the troop invasion, saying they intended to rescue the injured. Under heavy machinegun fire, the bus finally ground to a halt riddled with bullets. Two days later, the people keep coming. A Western witness described hundreds of defiant cyclists repeatedly edging towards the soldiers and tanks occupying the square on Monday chanting "animals, animals" despite bursts of gunfire which felled several. When troops later advanced in a bid to clear the Avenue of Eternal Peace of angry citizens, a lone man emerged from bushes and stood with arms outstretched before the advancing tank muzzles, at the last moment leaping onto the snout of one. He was dragged off by soldiers into a sidestreet and did not re-emerge. Further to the east, yards from Beijing's main diplomatic quarter, demonstrators repeatedly dashed out to rebuild flimsy roadblocks crushed by tanks, braving sporadic bursts of machinegun fire. Others cycled cheekily within 30 feet (10 metres) of the end of the military convoys. One Western diplomat described seeing a solitary man crouching behind a bush laboriously making a petrol bomb in the early hours of Monday as an army convoy passed yards away from him. He finally made a direct hit on a tank. According to Chinese witnesses, a mob in southwest Beijing lynched an army officer and left his corpse hanging from a bridge. There have also been cases of students sheltering captured soldiers from the wrath of other citizens. But mainly the hatred of troops has brought a solidarity. "There has never been a unity among Beijing people as there is now," said one old man. "We cannot cry any more. It is too evil for tears," said a young woman shortly after troops shot two people dead near her home. "We can only fight and try to tell the world." "Blood must be repaid with blood," read one slogan daubed on a wall on Monday. A diplomat commented: "So far the blood is flowing mostly one way." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3. Chinese Leaders Reviled in World`s Leading Newspapers ............... 74 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Reuter, June 5, 1989 Many newspapers throughout the world condemned China's leaders on Monday for ordering the massacre of demonstrators in Beijing and said the tragedy that unfolded in and around Tiananmen Square wrecked the government's legitimacy. Editorial writers said the soldiers' indiscriminate firing at crowds of unarmed protesters early on Sunday recalled the fateful words of Mao Tsetung: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." The New York Times said veteran Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping and Prime Minister Li Peng "are now surely the most hated men in China. "The regime's remaining legitimacy seems virtually destroyed. Even in the wake of overwhelming firepower and ruthlessness, resistance, in one form or another, seems certain to continue. Mr Deng and his narrow group rule only by force and fear," the Times said. In Western Europe, newspapers expressed outrage and disbelief at the killing of hundreds, if not thousands, of pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing. The Times of London said: "This weekend's vicious massacre has earned China's leadership the fear and contempt of its own people and pariah status in the world." "The desecration of Beijing by Deng and his cronies underlines the fact that not one of these regimes has yet yielded up power," the London Daily Telegraph said. "Their people are still living under -- and we are still dealing with -- dictatorships born in blood which may yet shed blood again when challenged." In Paris, Le Monde said, "The game is not over: The regime is so divided that it is not impossible that it will explode tomorrow in internal rivalries." Commenting on Britain's 1984 agreement to hand Hong Kong back to China in 1997, the Independent of London said: "For the British government, the weekend's events have finally destroyed the threadbare idea that those in power in Beijing can be safely entrusted with Hong Kong's future." Many newspapers said Deng had unleashed the forces of change himself with his drive to liberalise China's economy and wondered whether the same thing might occur in other communist capitals undertaking gradual shifts. "Is this the price that a people must be prepared to pay if they wish to change their communism? What has happened in Beijing could happen in Moscow, Warsaw, or once again in Budapest," the Corriere Della Sera, of Milan, Italy, said. "Deng is a prisoner of incoherence," the independent Spanish daily El Pais said on Sunday. "After presenting reform as a decisive step towards greater freedom and efficiency, he has systematically refused to accept the democratising steps that flow from society and his own reforms." "Bloodbath," "slaughter" and "massacre" shrieked West German newspaper headlines, and the newspaper Die Welt argued the government had lost all credibility with the people. The left-liberal Frankfurter Rundschau declared that the Chinese leaders' "claim that a counter-revolution threatened is ridiculous: they, themselves, are the counter-revolutionaries." The reaction in the East bloc press varied from outright condemnation to support. The semi-official Yugoslav daily Politika said "there was no way to rationalise or justify what happened" in Beijing. East Germany's official press, in line with its own ageing orthodox leadership, adopted the Chinese government's line that the demonstrators were "counter-revolutionaries" and "hooligans" who wanted to overthrow socialism. Hungary's official communist daily Nepsabadszag said: "Our own history has taught us that truth does not come out of a gun barrel and neither do solutions." The official Polish news agency PAP said the whole world had been shocked by the tragedy, but placed the blame for the violence on the unyielding students who refused to compromise. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 4. Anger, Unrest and Demonstrations in Chinese Provinces ............... 91 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Reuter, June 5, 1989 Anger and unrest filled major Chinese cities on Monday as news of the Beijing bloodbath spread, witnesses and diplomats said. There were demonstrations in many cities, with thousands of protesters blocking public transportation in Shanghai and cutting the vital south-to-north train line at Wuhan for the second day, witnesses said. The Shanghai city government issued a notice to Western missions in the city that it would soon act to end disruption caused by news of the Beijing violence filtering into the city from foreign sources, a diplomat said in a telephone interview. The notice gave no details. "Several thousand people, both students and residents, sat on the tracks and stopped trains for hours," a Western resident of the central city of Wuhan said. "When unarmed troops came near people spat on them and forced them back." He added that people also blocked traffic on the city's bridge, one of the vital crossings over the Yangtze river. A Western diplomat in Shanghai said workers in cities all over east China were deliberately snarling traffic to prevent people getting to work. "Declaring a general strike is an actionable offense, but if people simply can't get to work because the traffic is all blocked up that's a different story," he said. Funeral processions mourning the death of unarmed students and citizens added to traffic problems in Shanghai. "There's plenty of organisation behind this. The traffic blocks follow the same pattern in Hefei, Hangzhou, all over," the diplomat said. The Wuhan resident said the city was filled with rumours of thousands of troops poised outside the city. Many people in the city, capital of Hubei Province, speculated the government would soon declare martial law in the province. "We want to give a serious warning to the leaders of the illegal organisations and the plotters and organisers of sabotage activities: you must immediately rein in at the brink of the precipice and cease all activities to create disturbances in Shanghai, otherwise, you will be condemned by the people of the municipality and severely punished by the state law", the radio, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation, said. Diplomats said much news was coming through in a concerted campaign of calling from overseas Chinese groups in the United states to friends and relatives in China. Hong Kong residents have also begun a campaign to send newspaper clippings by facsimile to their business contacts in China. In the southern city Canton, where most news comes over the border from the British colony of Hong Kong, residents reacted with fury to the reports of the bloody suppression of Beijing's pro-democracy movement, student leaders said. A student leader said students and workers were filling the streets and blocking the city's five main bridges. "The whole of Canton is at a standstill. People have refused to work or attend classes," he said. In the central city of Changsha, student demonstrations blocked the entire city centre, a Western resident said. A student leader in the central city of Xian said about 10,000 students and workers had taken to the streets in protest and were blocking all traffic. The railway station in the eastern city Hangzhou was blocked, a resident said. Students in the northeast industrial city Shenyang passed out handbills with news of the Beijing deaths to rouse public anger, a witness said. Nanjing held mock funeral processions, complete with people with fake bullet wounds riding screaming in carts, witnesses said. "The city centre is completely blocked and the mood is very tense," a Western visitor to the city said. "Students are parading copies of gruesome news photographs and posters that have the red Chinese character for blood on them," she said. Shanghai city radio said that all public transport in the city centre had been suspended and roads blocked. In a report monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation, the radio said all 21 trolleybus routes, 82 bus routes, and 27 elevated transport routes had been suspended. "Barricades were set up at 123 road intersections or bridge ends in the municipality with buses or pulled-down road dividers," the radio said. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. U.S. Imposes Sanctions on China amid World Outrage over Killings ....165 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Reuter, June 5, 1989 President George Bush imposed sanctions on China as world leaders voiced grief and outrage on Monday at the Beijing government's violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. In the toughest reaction so far from any state leader, Bush suspended U.S. government sales to China and private military exports in protest at the Chinese army's onslaught on the student uprising in Beijing. The Soviet government, which itself deployed troops against nationalist demonstrators in Georgia in April, remained silent. At the height of the Beijing mass demonstrations, Kremlin leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited China last month for the first Sino-Soviet summit in 30 years. But a commentator on Moscow Radio's English-language world service expressed grief over the deaths of both demonstrators and soldiers in Tiananmen Square, saying the events were a domestic affair for China. Bush told a hastily-called White House news conference that the United States could not condone the violence in Beijing or ignore its consequences for U.S.-Chinese relations. Saying this was a time "for reasoned, careful action," he outlined a four-point programme including a suspension of all government-to-government sales and commercial exports of weapons as well as official visits between U.S. and Chinese military leaders. Moscow Radio deplored the fact that events had taken such a dramatic turn. "We do not voice an official point of view on these events," the radio said. "We at Radio Moscow are remote from supporting or denouncing the other side, but we hope the way things have been moving that a dialogue and a sensible compromise will prevail in the long run. "The situation in Beijing resembled the events in the Soviet Caucasian republic (of Georgia). We grieve over the hundreds of killed and injured people in Beijing, both demonstrators and soldiers, on Tiananmen Square," the commentary said. French President Francois Mitterrand condemned Chinese leaders who ordered troops to fire on the demonstrators and Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke cancelled a proposed visit to China to underline his government's "deep distress". "A regime which in order to survive is reduced to opening fire on youths it has educated and who have risen up against it in the name of freedom has no future," Mitterrand said. The Hong Kong stock market went into freefall over fears of continuing turmoil in Beijing. Official Press reaction in the Soviet-led East bloc to the weekend massacre in Beijing varied from outright condemnation in Yugoslavia to support for Beijing's ageing communist leadership in Bulgaria and East Germany. In London Britain's Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe summoned China's top envoy as pressure grew on Britain to review the agreement under which Hong Kong colony reverts to Chinese rule in 1997. The Foreign Office said charge d'affaires Song Mingjiang had been called in to hear "the concern of the British government over the weekend's events in Beijing" . Portugal, which has watched Beijing closely because of its agreement to return the colony of Macao to Chinese rule in 1999, expressed "vivid consternation" with events in China. A Foreign Ministry statement said the government rejected totally the use of violence on unarmed civilians and deplored the high number of casualties in Beijing. Solidarity leader Lech Walesa, whose union survived martial law repression by Poland's Communist rulers, urged China's leaders to stop using "brutal, genocidal violence" against pro-democracy students. He said the use of force against democracy never brought positive results and could unleash a new dictatorship in China. The reaction in Hungary, which is currently re-assessing its own 1956 anti-Soviet uprising, was one of concern and sadness. "Our own history has taught us that truth does not come out of a gun barrel and neither do solutions," the official Communist Party daily Nepsabadszag said. "Nothing comes from darkness. We must wait for the dawn." Amnesty International called on Monday for world governments to condemn the killing of demonstrators and to appeal to China to halt the shooting. The London-based human rights organisation said it was asking members in more than 100 countries to protest to Chinese authorities. East Germany's state-run media on Monday confined coverage of slaughter in Beijing's streets to the Chinese government line that a "counter-revolutionary uprising" had to be put down. Like China, East Germany has an elderly, hard-line Communist leadership that has ruled out political liberalisation of the kind sought by Chinese students who were bloodily routed by troops in Beijing. The European Commission, the executive body of the European Community, cancelled ministerial talks with China scheduled for Monday. "(The Commission) deplores the brutal repression of the people of Beijing, so sorely tried. It recalls that the cooperation between China and the Community can only suffer as a result...," a statement said. Belgium said that two of its ministers had cancelled meetings on Tuesday with Foreign Trade Minister Zheng Tuobin, who was in Brussels to review China's trade and cooperation agreement with the 12-nation Community. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said he was shocked by events in Beijing and expressed "heartfelt sympathy" for Chinese students who had sought more freedom and human rights. West Germany and France warned their citizens not to travel to China unless their journeys were essential. In the British colony of Hong Kong both the stock market and an emergency session of the legislature and executive council observed a one-minute silence for those killed on Sunday, variously estimated to number between 1,000 and 7,000. Hong Kong's leading stock indicator fell 21 per cent on Monday and one broker said:"It's all become Mickey Mouse numbers now. I don't expect any significant rebound till we find out who's in charge in Beijing. " Hong Kong reverts to Chinese rule in 1997 and the Beijing crackdown is expected to accelerate an already serious brain drain and cause property prices to plunge. Philippines President Corazon Aquino called for talks between Chinese leaders and the protesters. "It is important that they use all available peaceful measures instead of resorting to violence," said Aquino, who took office after a largely bloodless 1986 "people power" uprising. Non-aligned Yugoslavia, which has cultivated close political ties with China since both countries distanced themselves from the old Soviet form of Communism, also attacked the clampdown. "As friends of the Chinese people, we honestly believe in the soonest possible overcoming of the current complex situation in the People's Republic of China with political means, without violence and the use of armed forces," a foreign ministry spokesman said. Sweden cancelled a planned trip to Beijing by Defence Minister Roine Carlsson and a Swedish visit by former president Li Xiannian in protest against the military action in China, the foreign ministry announced in Stockholm. In Paris, two Chinese interpreters caused a diplomatic flurry at a UNESCO meeting when they donned white headbands emblazoned with the words "in mourning". Chinese delegates made no comment on the protest. "We had to do something," said Feng Jingbao, one of the interpreters. "It is happening to our brothers and sisters. I haven't been able to eat or sleep for days." The sole expression of support for the Chinese action came from Vietnam, whose own Communist leaders are fighting a crisis of public faith over political and economic reform. Vietnamese radio, monitored in Bangkok, said the Chinese army "could in no way refrain itself from taking action... According to initial reports there were many casualties during (Sunday's clashes)." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 6. Soldiers Laughed as They Killed Tiananmen Crowds, Witness ........... 67 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Reuter, June 5, 1989 By: Mark O'Neill Soldiers laughed as they raked crowds of students and onlookers with machinegun fire in central Beijing's Tiananmen square on Sunday morning, one student who survived said on Monday. Weeping and shaking with emotion, he said terrorism was the only option left to overcome the "fascist" government of top leader Deng Xiaoping. Foreign countries should cut all aid to China and provide weapons to those opposing the administration, he said. The official account says there were some civilian deaths during the push into central Beijing, but that no one was killed when the troops entered the square. Officials say most people in the square left after an initial broadcast ordering them to go, and the rest left after a second warning. This version conflicts absolutely with that of students and other witnesses who said troops entered soon after the second warning, not giving enough time to the thousands still in the square to escape. The student, who asked that his name not be used because he feared for his life after his documents were confiscated by soldiers, said there were 6,000 to 7,000 students left on the square when the army moved in at about 5 a.m. Just before, under a truce negotiated between military commanders and Taiwan singer Hou Dejian who was on a fast in Tiananmen, 4,000 to 5,000 students left the square to the southeast, the student said. The student, who had spent three days and nights at the square, was at the rear of the group which left and saw the soldiers entering at the north and western end. "They fired first above the heads and then at the head," he said. "They were laughing wildly as if it was not serious." He managed to escape, but thousands -- students and ordinary people -- were still in the square. "I cannot estimate how many died," he said, shaking as tears rolled down his cheeks. He described emotional scenes as the students realised repeated government promises that force would not be used against them would not be kept. "At first, the students did not agree to Hou's request that they leave. Hou repeated it and 70 per cent agreed to go. Hong Kong students said they wanted to die there, but I told them to leave and tell the world what had happened. "As we left, the ordinary people shook hands with us, weeping. We told them to leave with us, saying that we had caused them so much trouble. They said they wanted to share our fate. "We expected tear-gas and some bloodshed, but not this. No one believed the soldiers would shoot their own people." His own future is uncertain. On Saturday, in an incident when some of the students briefly left the square to confront troops, soldiers confiscated his documents and glasses and stuck a gun in the front of his neck, he said. "'You are inexperienced', I told the soldier. 'If you want to kill me cleanly, put it at the back of my neck.' He said 'Thank you, you seem to know very well.'" "I dare not go home. The soldiers know who I am and may come looking for me. What am I to do? If Chinese do not fear to live, they should not be afraid to die." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 7. Defiant Chinese Civilians COnfront the Army ......................... 97 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Reuter, June 5, 1989 Troops opened fire on hundreds of unarmed cyclists chanting "animals, animals" on Monday as Chinese civilians defiantly confronted the army and foreign nations condemned the military crackdown. There was continuing confusion about the magnitude of the death toll from the Sunday carnage in and around Tiananmen Square, when troops backed by armour crushed pro-democracy demonstrators. Diplomats have said it was possible more than 1,000 people died in the assault but on Monday two estimates, apparently based on official information, referred to total deaths of 5,000 and 7,000 respectively. In neighbouring Hong Kong, shock and trepidation after the bloodbath sent the stock market into freefall with the leading blue chip index plunging 22 per cent in morning trading. In Beijing, witnesses said the troops occupying Tiananmen Square fired volley after volley at the mocking cyclists. Hundreds of outraged civilians gathered on the Avenue of Eternal Peace 200 metres (yards) from ranks of soldiers and tanks guarding the square until troops drove down the avenue scattering the crowds with semi-automatic fire. Foreign witnesses in the Beijing Hotel to the east of the square reported seeing at least two people fall under the hail of bullets fired at random from the convoy. "People are showing incredible bravery. Their courage is overcoming their fear," said another witness. The military in a morning news programme on Monday warned that the capture of the square was "just an initial victory" and predicted a long fight against "dregs of society". The army is widely expected to next move against students in the university quarter in the northwest of the city, some of whom have captured armoured cars and machine guns while others have made petrol bombs. The students, who have been campaigning for democratic reforms for seven weeks, prepared to defend their campuses against the expected attack. A foreign resident of the university quarter on Monday said automatic gunfire could be heard around Beijing University and the People's University. Another foreign resident reported that troops had been seen riding up and down the streets in the diplomatic area in the east of the city firing into the air. "This has got completely out of control. The troops have lost all discipline," the resident said. There were also confirmed reports of soldiers in one area deserting trucks and armoured cars and walking away, leaving them to be burned by angry citizens. In Washington, a U.S. administration official said curbs on military sales to China may be recommended by the State Department to protest against the killings in Beijing. A list of these and other options will be presented to Secretary of State James Baker then sent to President George Bush for a decision, said the official, who asked not to be identified. Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke on Monday cancelled a proposed visit to China to underline his government's "deep distress" at the crackdown. Hawke said in a television interview on Sunday he "deeply deplored" what had happened in China. "The use of violence and force by the authorities which resulted in deaths of...people who have been exercising their rights peacefully cannot be accepted," Hawke said. Canada has demanded that China end the "senseless killing" of its own citizens, saying the military's actions were inexcuseable. "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 Sunday statement. Veteran South Korean opposition figure Kim Dae-jung said on Monday:"I can't conceal my shock, sorrow, and anger at the bloody repression by the current Chinese leadership." Kim is leader of the biggest opposition group in parliament. In Hong Kong, where China in 1997 resumes sovereignty from Britain, analysts and diplomats said the Beijing violence would precipitate an increased demand for emigration and a dramatic drop in property prices. "The people I have spoken to are very pessimistic. I have had Hong Kong businessmen say to me quite bluntly in the past 24 hours 'Hong Kong has had it'," said Bob Broadfoot of the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy. "My heart is crying for the Chinese people. But what can we do? Hong Kong is being handed back. You think I am happy?" said a 23-year-old Chinese secretary called Linda. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8. Tanks with Blazing Guns, Armoured Convoys Patrol Beijing ............107 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Source: Reuter, June 5, 1989 By: Guy Dinmore Convoys of tanks and armoured vehicles patrolled Beijing early on Monday, a day after an army assault against anti-government demonstrators in which more than 1,000 people may have been killed. Ten tanks and 16 armoured troop carriers firing machineguns rumbled from central Tiananmen Square, the centre of seven weeks of student -led protests, along the capital's Avenue of Eternal Peace for two miles (three km) on Sunday night to Beijing's main embassy district and then returned. "It must be to keep people inside," said a Western diplomat living in the area. Two other convoys of troops in trucks and jeeps toured the narrow streets of the embassy quarter, letting off occasional shots. Shortly after midnight a convoy of five tanks and 22 armoured troop carriers roared along central Changan Avenue to Tiananmen in what appeared to be a further attempt to cow the citizens of Beijing. The 21st of the carriers pointed its machinegun at the Beijing Hotel and fired a burst at the city's oldest guesthouse, Western correspondents staying there said. They saw no signs of casualties or serious damage. As the convoy approached the hotel with one of the carriers being towed, daring citizens set fire to a bus parked on the convoy's route 400 metres east of the square. Sporadic firing continued in the area. The streets were almost empty. A second large convoy including more than 20 tanks and armoured troop carriers shattered the quiet of the early hours as it moved along Changan Avenue past the Beijing Hotel to strengthen already large contingents on the square. In the northwest suburbs near the university area Western witnesses saw a group of 30 military trucks and jeeps ablaze on a main ring road late on Sunday evening. At every main intersection along the ring road looping around the north of the capital groups of two or three burnt-out vehicles were still smouldering. A platoon of steel-helmeted soldiers with rifles and fixed bayonets stood guard at one big junction. There was no sign of any troops in the university area itself early on Monday, said Westerners who drove there. Student leaders told them they were worried because several scores of students were still unaccounted for after the weekend assault, when troops backed by heavy armour shot people occupying the square, heart of communist China for 40 years. The exact death toll will probably never be known. As the scale of the conflict between troops and demonstrators became more apparent, diplomats said it was possible that more than 1,000 people were killed in the night of carnage. State radio justified the use of force and praised troops for "upholding the endless revolutionary spirit of Chairman Deng Xiaoping" -- China's 84-year-old senior leader who along with hardline Premier Li Peng is the apparent victor over reformist party leader Zhao Ziyang in a struggle for power over the 1.1 billion Chinese. Beijing Mayor Chen Xitong said in a speech read out on state television: "There is no turning back. "Do not take part in demonstrations and counter-revolutionary activities." But students who for seven weeks have been campaigning for democratic reforms and an end to corruption prepared to defend their campuses in Beijing against an expected military invasion. More than 1,000 students crowded around the gates of Beijing University, a Chinese academic said. "They expect the military to come. If they do the entire neighbourhood will come to protect them. Our consciousness is very high. We do not fear the army despite what happened," he said. Mayor Chen said Beijing was facing the most serious counter-revolutionary violence since the 1949 revolution. "Beijing remains in crisis," he said. "In this critical situation we have no choice but to adopt special measures to smash this counter-revolutionary violence." More than 1,000 troops were injured on Saturday and Sunday. Some were beaten to death, Chen said. He did not give exact figures. Premier Li declared martial law in Beijing on May 20 to quell the biggest anti-government demonstrations in the four decades of communist rule. A student union official in the central city of Wuhan said on Sunday that more than 10,000 students started "anti-violence" demonstrations in the morning. Students later lay across the tracks of the Beijing-Canton Railway, paralysing China's north-south lifeline from afternoon to evening. Witnesses reported protest marches in the southern city of Changsha, in Shanghai to the east and in Dalian and Shenyang in the north. The CBS television network said in New York on Sunday that Beijing correspondent Richard Roth, 40, and his cameraman Derek Williams, 42, were released after being held for 19 hours at the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square. It said eight American tourists held with Roth were also released. +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Executive Editor: Gang Xu, Japan | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | 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 | +--------------------------------------------------------------------------+