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A secret video related to the 1989 Tiananmen Square movement in China has surfaced after 35 years. This video is of the court martial of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) General Xu Qianxian.
General Xu explains why he refused to follow orders to open fire on student protesters and take military action. According to reports, thousands of people were later killed in government action.
In the 6-hour video, General Xu says that the Tiananmen movement was a political mass movement. It should have been resolved through dialogue and political means. He clearly said that he did not want to become a criminal in history, hence he did not order his soldiers to open fire on the students.
At that time, the government had sent General Xu to Beijing and ordered to impose martial law and deploy about 15 thousand soldiers. However, he refused to accept this order.
After this the Chinese government took strict action against him. The government expelled General Xu from the Communist Party and sentenced him to 5 years’ imprisonment.
General Xu Chunxian died in 2021 at the age of 85.
Video leaked online last month
This video of General Xu Qianxian’s court martial was first leaked online last month. Its source is not known. It has been viewed more than 13 lakh times on YouTube.
Wu Renhua, historian of the Tiananmen movement, has shared this. Renhua says that this video is the most important witness to the internal military disagreements of that period. The leaked video shows that at that time there were differences of opinion regarding decisions even within the Chinese army.
Several thousand people are feared killed in the military crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989. This incident is still one of the most censored issues in China.
You can watch the full video here…
What happened in Tiananmen Square 35 years ago
Tiananmen Square in Beijing, the capital of China, became the center of a major mass movement in 1989. This movement started under the leadership of students, which later spread to common citizens. The protesters were demanding political reforms from the government, a ban on corruption and freedom of expression.
The movement began in April 1989 following the death of reformist leader Hu Yaobang. Heart attack was said to be the reason behind his death.
Hu Yaobang was considered a supporter of political reforms. After his death, students started gathering in Beijing and making demands from the government like ending corruption, freedom of expression, democratic reforms.
Many students took to the streets. Within no time thousands of students and citizens gathered in Tiananmen Square. Demonstrations began on May 13 and remained peaceful for several weeks.
The photo is of students on hunger strike in Tiananmen Square on May 14, 1989.
The picture is of a student who fainted on the third day of his hunger strike on 16 May 1989. The medical team is treating him.
The government committed genocide by imposing martial law
Seeing the situation worsening, the Chinese government imposed martial law in Beijing. On the night of 3 and 4 June 1989, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was deployed in the capital.
Tanks and armed soldiers fired indiscriminately at protesters and civilians in Tiananmen Square and its surrounding areas.
After the incident a picture went viral across the world. A lone young man stands in front of the tanks and tries to stop them from advancing.
The identity of this person has not been revealed till date, but he became a global symbol of courage and protest.
According to government figures, only a few hundred people were killed in the incident. But according to a BBC report, the number of people killed in this incident was more than 10 thousand.
The most famous photograph of Tiananmen Square is known as ‘Tank Man’.
The picture is of a young man injured in the firing of the Chinese army.
A burning tank near Tiananmen Square, June 4, 1989.
Why did Tiananmen Square incident happen?
In the late 1980s, China was going through a period of rapid economic change. Markets opened, cities changed, but politics remained the same.
Historian Andrew Nathan, a professor at Columbia University, writes in his book China Crisis that economic reforms raised expectations, but the political structure remained closed. This contradiction became the root of dissatisfaction.
University students were the first to start raising questions. They started feeling that corruption was increasing and the voice of common people was not reaching power.
Former BBC journalist and author Louisa Lim states in her book The People’s Republic of Amnesia,
The students felt that if they did not speak out now, this opportunity would be lost forever.
According to journalist Louisa Lim, gradually the student gathering turned into a major mass movement. There were debates in the square, speeches were made, people talked about the future. This was not just protest, but hope.
According to research by Harvard University professor Joseph Torizian, the Communist Party leadership feared that this movement could challenge the supreme power of the party.
There were only two ways before the government: dialogue or strictness. Reports from the British newspaper Guardian and Human Rights Watch suggest that the top leadership considered it a political threat and decided to land the army.
The situation changed on the night of 3 and 4 June 1989. The army advanced, bullets were fired and the movement was ended by force.
According to reports from Amnesty International and other international organizations, hundreds to thousands of people are feared dead, although China has never made public official figures.
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