CHINA'S paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, has admitted publicly for the first time that he played a leading role in the June 4 military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing.
In an interview with Chinese American academic Professor Li Zhengdao published in Beijing yesterday, Mr Deng said ''resolute measures'' in dealing with protests were necessary to prevent further bloodshed.
''If these agitators had been allowed to succeed, a civil war would have resulted. In such an event, victory would certainly have been on our side but at who knows what cost in lives and injuries,'' Mr Deng was quoted as saying.
''In the suppression of the turmoil, we were at pains to avoid hurting the people, especially the students, that was our guiding principle. If we had not taken resolute measures, the result would have been difficult to imagine,'' he said.
Hundreds of people were reported to have died in and around Tiananmen Square when army tanks and troops were ordered in to end the pro-democracy demonstration.
Mr Deng said the ''turmoil'' had been exacerbated by the failure of several leading Communist Party officials, particularly the then party general secretary, Zhao Ziyang, to uphold the party's basic principles.
