Sir Alan Donald, British ambassador to Beijing during Tiananmen Square killings, dies aged 87
Diplomat and China expert who played leading role in Hong Kong handover sent secret memo estimating 10,000 people died in 1989 crackdown on protests
Sir Alan Donald, the British ambassador to China at the time of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 and who also played a critical role in the Hong Kong handover, has died at the age of 87.
He died peacefully in his sleep on Saturday, July 14 at a hospice in the Weald in Kent, according to his family. He is survived by his four sons, his seven grandchildren and his wife.
The fluent Mandarin speaker and Cambridge-educated career diplomat was among the most respected experts in sinology, the study of China, in the West.
Donald’s mission as British ambassador in Beijing between 1988 and 1991 came a critical time for China’s relations both with Britain and the rest of the world following the Communist Party’s crackdown on the student protesters in Tiananmen Square in 1989.
It resulted in deadlock in the ongoing Sino-British talks about Hong Kong’s transfer of sovereignty, when up to one million Hong Kong citizens took to the streets to express their support for their mainland compatriots’ pro-democracy movement.
Donald was watching events from the rooftop of the ambassador’s residence, on the night of June 3-4, when People’s Liberation Army soldiers and tanks moved into Tiananmen Square to clear the gatherings of student protesters and end six weeks of nationwide protests calling for democracy and political reform.
