In article <1818287.oMNUckLgyt@Dharma>,
Pieter Terpstra <peter.t...@gmail.com> posted:
>
> Chinese Army 'Spared No-one' in 1989 Mass Killings in
> Beijing: UK cables.
>
> 2017-12-21
>
> Diplomatic archives recently declassified by the U.K.
> government have shed further light on the horror of the
> military crackdown on student-led protests in Tiananmen
> Square, describing troops of the People's Liberation Army
> (PLA) 27th army as being ordered to "spare no-one" as
> they used dum-dum bullets, automatic weapons and armored
> vehicles to carry out mass killings in Beijing.
> After decades of secrecy and suppression of public debate
> on the massacre by the ruling Chinese Communist Party,
> the documents give a harrowing and bloody account of what
> happened on the streets of Beijing on the night of June
> 3, 1989 and in the days that followed, the Hong Kong news
> site HK01.com reported.
>
> "On arrival at Tiananmen troops from [the northeastern
> city of Shenyang] had separated students and residents,"
> then British ambassador Alan Donald wrote in a diplomatic
> cable dated June 1989 detailing how the Shenyang troops
> had been sent in unarmed to disperse the crowd, followed
> up by a fully armed 27th Army that rampaged through the
> city killing civilians and other soldiers alike.
>
> "Students understood they were given one hour to leave
> square but after five minutes [armored personnel
> carriers] APCs attacked," the cable said. "Students
> linked arms but were mown down, including soldiers."
>
> "APCs then ran over bodies time and time again to make
> "pie" and remains collected by bulldozer. Remains
> incinerated and then hosed down drains," it said.
>
> The cable, which described the 27th Army as illiterate
> "primitives" from the northern province of Shanxi,
> commanded by the nephew of then Chinese President Yang
> Shangkun, said the heavily armed troops were kept without
> news for 10 days and told they were to take part in a
> military exercise.
>
> An earlier cable dated May described Beijing as encircled
> by at least 10 different armies from elsewhere in China,
> at an estimated strength of 100,000.
>
> "The leadership keeps 27th Army on the move so that it
> can attack from a different direction each time," the
> June cable said.
>
> The documents also describe pitched battles between
> "enraged" crowds and troops in the western suburb of
> Muxidi, and Shilipu, to the east of the diplomatic
> quarter in Jianguomenwai.
>
> "The first three waves were held by the demonstrators and
> [Shenyang] troops tried to push back the crowds to let 27
> Army through," the cable says. "They failed and 27 Army
> opened fire on the crowd (both civilians and soldiers)
> before running over them in their APCs."
>
> 'Enraged masses'
>
> At Muxidi, "the enraged masses followed ignoring machine-
> gun fire to next battle at Liubukou," the description
> reads, in a reference to a district of Beijing just west
> of Tiananmen Square.
>
> "APCs ran over troops and civilians at 65 kilometers/hour
> in same manner," it said. "One APC crashed and driver (a
> captain) got out and was taken by crowd to hospital. He
> is now deranged and demands death for his atrocities."
>
> It said the 27th Army was ordered to spare no-one, and
> "shot wounded Shenyang soldiers."
>
> In Liubukou, "four wounded girl students begged for their
> lives but were bayoneted," it said.
>
> "A three-year-old girl was injured but her mother was
> shot as she went to her aid as were six others who
> tried," the cable said.
>
> The account, which gives an estimate of 10,000 civilian
> deaths, suggests premeditated killings on a mass scale on
> the streets of Beijing.
>
> "1,000 survivors were told they could escape via Zhengyi
> Lu but were then mown down by specially prepared machine-
> gun positions," it says, adding that any ambulances
> trying to rescue the wounded were also attacked and their
> crews killed.
>
> "With medical crew dead, wounded driver attempted to ram
> attackers but was blown to pieces with anti-tank weapon,"
> it says. "In further attack APCs caught up with Shenyang
> military straggler trucks, rammed and overturned them and
> ran over troops."
>
> It said a 27th Army officer was shot dead by his own
> troops, "apparently because he faltered."
>
> "Troops explained they would be shot if they hadn't shot
> officer," according to the cable, which said the Chinese
> leadership was protected by two rings of tanks and
> armored personnel carriers, one inside the walls of
> Zhongnanhai, and another outside.
>
> Target practice on civilians
>
> The embassy said the 27th Army were likely used because
> they were the most "reliable and obedient," adding that
> many in China believed civil war was an imminent
> possibility.
>
> "Some considered other armies would attack 27 Army but
> they had no ammunition," Donald's cable reads, adding
> that many military commanders had refused to respond to a
> summons to a meeting with President Yang Shangkun, while
> the Beijing military commander had refused to supply
> outside armies with food, water or barracks.
>
> "27 Army snipers shot many civilians on balconies, street
> sweepers etc for target practice," the cable says, adding
> that hospitals in the capital had been ordered to accept
> only security force casualties.
>
> Former Tiananmen student protest leader Xiong Yan, who
> was a Beijing University law student at the time, said he
> was at at the battle of Muxidi.
>
> "I think this is a pretty true account," Xiong told RFA
> on Wednesday. "Government departments have ways of
> finding out military secrets, and they are more likely to
> have the bigger picture."
>
> U.S.-based former student activist Fang Zheng, who lost
> both legs in the crackdown, said he was at Liubukou,
> where he was was run over by an armored vehicle, but was
> more skeptical about the cables having a big impact.
>
> "There are a lot of things about June 4, 1989 which have
> yet to come out," Fang said. "If we ever get the whole
> truth, I think it can only come from the Chinese
> government."
>
> "But that's unlikely to happen, because the current
> regime is still covering it all up and distorting the
> facts," he said. "This is still the post-June 4, 1989
> government in power."
>
> The estimate of 10,000 civilian casualties differs from
> later estimates of the 1989 death toll in Beijing.
>
> Former Beijing mayor Chen Xitong told a top meeting of
> China's parliament on June 30, 1989, that "more than 200"
> people were killed, including 36 undergraduates, while
> more than 3,000 non-military personnel were injured.
>
> In 2008, victims' group the Tiananmen Mothers, founded by
> retired university professor Ding Zilin, said it had
> documented the locations of 188 civilian deaths, 71 of
> whom were students, including Ding's 17-year-old son.
>
> But the group says that 13 of its members have yet to
> locate the place where their loved ones died.
>
> Reported by Lin Ping for RFA's Mandarin Service.
> Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
>
> http://www.rfa.org/english/news/china/tianmen-revelations-12212017131357.html

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