From the declaration to the enforcement of Martial Law
4. On 20 May Premier Li Peng issued a declaration of Martial Law "in parts of Peking... so as to check the turmoil with a firm hand". Apart from a few token apperances, such as Li Peng's meeting with 3 new ambassadors on 25 May, most of the leadership remained out of sight from the declaration of Martial Law until well after the events of 4 June. Zhao Ziyang was rumoured to be under house arrest, and Deng Xiaoping was said to have gone to Wuhan to attend a national conference of military regions, according to the Hong Kong press. It was thought that he was drumming up support for the enforcement of Martial Law. The veteran marshals Nie Rongzhen and Xu Xiangqian and the former Defence Minister Zhang Aiping were rumoured to have phoned Deng Xiaoping to say that the situation in Peking should be handled promptly and without force. Several meetings took place during this period, some of which have not been officially confirmed. The Hong Kong press carried a speech by Yang Shangkun to an emergency enlarged meeting of the central military commission, which had claimed took place on 24 May, in this speech Zhao Ziyang's so called crimes were set out. Zhao was blamed for seeing the demonstrations as "a patriotic student movement". He "did not recognise this as a disturbance". "The root cause of the problem lies within the party" Yang said. Yang also likened Zhao to Hu Yaobang: "the character of comrade Ziyang's words is the same as that of comrade Hu Yaobang's refusal to oppose bourgeois liberalisation". Another mistake made by Zhao was his remark to Gorbachev about Deng Xiaoping's role in decision making. Yang Shangkun claims "he said that all major issues were decided by comrade Xiaoping. Any comrade with a sober head could discern that Zhao was trying to shirk responsibility by saying this. He pushed comrade Xiaoping to the forefront to bear the responsibility for all errors". Yang added that "the central comrades have considered again and again and found that it is necessary to change the leader, because he has refused to implement central instructions and has stuck to his own ideas".
5.
The old guard also voiced their opinions. On 26 May Peking television reported a meeting of the Central Advisory Commission Standing Committee presided over by Chen Yun. The Standing Committee expressed support for the decisive measures "to stop the turmoil and stabilise the situation". The veterans referred to the struggle to found the PRC, which Chen Yun said involved "the sacrifices of more than 20 million people". He warned that if the situation is not resolutely put down" then "not only is there the danger of losing the achievements of 10 years of reform, but there is also the danger of losing all the fruits of revolution, which were won with blood, and all the achievements of the
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