Letters | Tiananmen’s story hasn’t been told truthfully – China can change that by breaking its silence

Instead of letting the West dominate the narrative on the crackdown on protesters in Beijing on June 4, 1989, China would do well to address the issue openly, even if the death toll was high

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The photograph of a lone protester standing in front of approaching tanks on Changan Avenue in Beijing on June 5, 1989, has become the iconic image of the Tiananmen Square protests. Photo: AP

Published: 3:20am, 4 Jun 2019Updated: 3:45am, 4 Jun 2019

Over the past decades, I have been highly conflicted about the Tiananmen crackdown. The Western media has repeatedly emphasised the brutal suppression of the thousands of Chinese students at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in June 1989. These noble-minded young people had assembled by the hundreds of thousands that spring, demanding reforms, democracy and the end of corruption and nepotism in the Communist Party.

The reports in the Western press gave the impression that Chinese troops and tanks fired indiscriminately into the crowds of students, massacring thousands of them on June 4, 1989, staining the image of the Communist Party forever and ending the West’s hopes for the democracy movement.

However, WikiLeaks’ release of diplomatic cables from the US embassy in Beijing to Washington revealed that there was no mass shooting of students in the square.

Troops proceeding into the square were met by barricades and fierce resistance put up by protesters, including workers. A few soldiers were beaten up and the troops opened fire, resulting in hundreds of casualties among the brave protesters.

By the time the troops arrived at the square, the students had already begun to disperse and no mass slaughter took place there, although there could have been several sporadic challenges resulting in death. In all, a thousand people could have succumbed to the troops’ onslaught.

The fact that China has suppressed all news of this event has not helped and begets a guilty conscience. There could be more clarity if China acknowledges what transpired 30 years ago and reveals the true extent of the casualties.