Jeff Widener/AP - A Chinese man
stands alone to block a line of tanks heading east on Beijing's Cangan Blvd. in
Tiananmen Square on June 5, 1989. Chen Xitong, Beijing mayor at time of
massacre, says in new book it was preventable and ‘a tragedy.’
By
Jamil Anderlini and Enid Tsui, Wednesday, May 30, 1:55 AM
BEIJING — Beijing’s mayor at the
time of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre has described the
bloodshed as “regrettable” and “a tragedy that could have been prevented,” in a
rare departure from the Chinese Communist party’s version of the crackdown.
Chen Xitong, now 81, was regarded as
a hard-liner at the time of the Tiananmen student protests. His comments mark
the first time a senior official associated with the decision to fire on
protesters has expressed regret for the June 4, 1989, massacre.
“Several hundred people died on that day,”
Chen is quoted as saying in a book to be published on the eve of the 23rd
anniversary of the massacre. “As the mayor, I felt sorry. I hoped we could have
solved the case peacefully.
“Looking back, I consider [the
events of June 4] a tragedy that could have been prevented, should have been
prevented, but was not prevented.”
The Tiananmen massacre has been
erased from Chinese history books and public discourse but remains a looming
and potent presence in the country’s politics. Chen’s apparent regret is
especially important as he was the named author of the only public official
report on the massacre, titled “Checking the Turmoil and Quelling the
Counter-revolutionary Rebellion.”
In a series of interviews conducted
by Yao Jianfu, a former official and researcher, Chen says “other people” wrote
that report and ordered him to read it out in public, which he did on June 30,
1989.
“As far as I know, this is the first
time that someone widely believed to be responsible for the massacre has
expressed regret for those events,” said Bao Pu, the Hong Kong-based publisher
of the book.
Chen was promoted after the
crackdown. In 1995, however, he was removed from his position as Communist
Party secretary of Beijing on charges of corruption, for which he was sentenced
to 16 years in prison in 1998.
He was released on medical parole in
2004 and is believed to be suffering from late-stage cancer.
In the book, which goes on sale in
Hong Kong on Friday, Chen denies the corruption charges and hints that he was
the victim of a political purge. “In a power struggle, any means possible — any
underhand means — will be used. . . . The objective is to seize power,” he
says.
Chen also compares his demise to
that of Bo Xilai, the senior Chinese leader who was
purged last month and detained on suspicion of “serious discipline violations.”
Bo’s wife, Gu Kailai, is a suspect in the alleged murder of a British
businessman.
“Bo Xilai’s fate is so similar to
mine and that of Chen Liangyu,” Chen says. “The party secretaries of Beijing,
Shanghai and Chongqing all suffered the same disgrace.”
Chen Liangyu, Shanghai’s former
Communist Party secretary, was convicted of corruption in 2006.
— Financial Times
Tsui reported from Hong Kong.
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