Deng Xiaoping exhibit in Hong Kong may touch on June 4 crackdown

An exhibition on the life of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping may touch on the June 4 incident, an event organiser has suggested.

Gao Yi, deputy secretary general of the Communist Party Central Committee's Party Literature Research Office, made the comments yesterday when he was asked if the exhibition, which will be held in the Convention and Exhibition Centre from August 21-23 to commemorate the 110th anniversary of Deng's birth, would include contents about the June 4 incident.

"You will know after seeing the exhibition," Gao said.

When asked again in Putonghua whether the exhibition would include contents relevant to "8964", referring to the date of the Tiananmen Square crackdown on protesters in 1989, Gao reiterated: "You will know after seeing the exhibition ... I believe part of the content will be reflected."

But he later denied making the comment recorded on camera and said the exhibition would show how Deng "handled national crises amid turbulent international situations".

Deng was regarded as the architect of China's reform and opening-up policy since the late 1970s, but he was also believed to have played a crucial role in the bloodshed that ended the pro-democracy movement.