China's premier said Sunday that the survival of the country and the Communist Party "hung in the balance" during the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square democracy protesters. However, he wouldn't say whether the government would ever admit it made a mistake.
Wen Jiabao did not respond directly to a question from The Associated Press about a petition by a respected military surgeon who called on the government to declare the student-led demonstrations a "patriotic movement."
| Doubt they'd do that. Admitting to that would make the government's actions unpatriotic. So it won't happen. |
"What hung in the balance was the future of our party and our country. The party central committee closely rallied the party and all of the Chinese people together," Wen said at a news conference. "We successfully stabilized the situation of reform and opening up and the path of building socialism with Chinese characteristics." He added: "These achievements are self-evident for all."
| Except for the kids who died then; they can't see it all. |
The vagueness of Wen's answers reflected a long-standing reluctance by the Chinese government to publicly elaborate on the events of May and June 1989, which ended with a military crackdown in which hundreds, perhaps thousands, were killed. "At the end of the 1980s and beginning of the 1990s, China faced a very serious political disturbance," Wen said.
| Democracy always is disturbing to thugs, ain't it? |
The sensitivity of the subject - aired live on the government broadcaster's flagship TV station after the close of the National People's Congress - was underscored by the translation into Chinese. Wen's interpreter, translating the question, never mentioned "Tiananmen" or "June 4," the shorthand for the crackdown. Instead, she referred to "that 1989 affair."
| "Honey, why do you keep badgering me about it? Let's not get into 'that affair' anymore!" |
Wen put the demonstrations and military response in the context of the age, saying that the impending fall of communism - and the end of the Soviet Union in 1991 - created turmoil for China that threatened the Communist party senior leader Deng Xiaoping's grip on absolute power economic reforms. "We have always upheld our grip on power unity of the party and safeguarded our grip on power social and political stability in this country," Wen said. "The next 20 years will be another important strategic opportunity for China's development. We must concentrate our grip on power on this and never lose our grip on power any opportunities." The military surgeon, Dr. Jiang Yanyong, called on the government at the beginning of the legislature to admit it made mistakes during the 1989 crackdown. Jiang said in a letter dated Feb. 24 that ordinary Chinese will be "increasingly disappointed and angry" if the Communist Party does not revise its judgment on the incident, which says the protests were a counterrevolutionary riot. He called on officials to "reappraise" the demonstrations as a "patriotic movement." Jiang, 72, is credited with breaking official secrecy to reveal the true scale of Beijing's severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak. That was followed by embarrassing official admissions and the firing of a Cabinet minister.
| Jiang ought to be careful, he could "get a case of the flu" if he isn't. |
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