TNAG-1879-FCO40-2670-Student-demonstrations-and-internal-political-situation-in-C-1989 — Page 162

CONFIDENTIAL

4KB 020/14.

FROM: K C Walker

DATE: 14 June 1989

CC:

Mr McLaren

Mr Paul, HKD

Mr Ehrman (c/o HKD)

Mr McCrory, PUSD Mr Figgis, RD

Mr Barrass, Cabinet

Office

96)/

Mr Millington FED

CHINA: RECENT EVENTS AND PROSPECTS

1.

With the benefit of the latest reports, including

Sir Alan Donald's telegrams 1086 and 1095 of 9-10 June, it is now possible to form a clearer picture of the actual course of events in Peking on 3-4 June. Following orders from those leaders who had by then taken charge, principally Yang Shangkun and Li Peng, the 27th army adopted tactics designed to clear Tiananmen Square and quickly restore order. The troops seem to have acted according to a prepared plan to force the students to leave the square by one of the exits at the southern side.

2. The troops were sent in with fixed bayonets and ammunition, and there can be no doubt that their orders empowered them to kill demonstrators who refused to leave the square. While it is just conceivable that the troops exceeded instructions in killing large numbers of people who were already walking away from the square, the leaders now in charge have shown no inclination to criticise the troops for that or any other

reason.

3. It is not entirely clear how the violence began, but even if protestors in the square started it by setting on fire an army vehicle and killing its occupants (although this may have happened after it had knocked down some demonstrators), the scale of force used by the army was certainly far beyond anything that could be justified. The best guess seems to be that the numbers killed on 3-4 June in Peking were between 1,000 and 3,000. Peking telno 1095 suggests that most were killed after leaving the square, but the weight of other evidence indicates that a considerable number also died in the square, having refused to obey the army's order to leave.

4. Despite the full horror of these events, it is unfortunate the Western media have widely publicised some exaggerated accounts of events in the square. The Chinese authorities have used these to try to discredit Western reporting of the disorders in general.

CONFIDENTIAL

/5.