1989 April-July Tiananmen Square: The Legacy And Repercussions For U.S-China Relations

The Chronology: Tiananmen Square Crackdown
On the evening of June 3rd 1989, three thousand students readied themselves for a test that no university could give them, a test of their resolve to change China forever. As they huddled together, unarmed; the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) bore down on them armed with tanks, automatic weapons and Armored Personnel Carriers (APCs). The 27th Army assigned to the crackdown left behind, a trail of the blood on the roads and alleys leading up to the symbol of the Communist Party’s strength Tiananmen Square. But contrary to popular perception, the blood that flowed on the night of June 3rd was mostly of Beijing’s citizens and supporters of the student movement and not just the students themselves.[1]

The confrontation continued through the night and into the early morning hours of the 4th. It was an unfair battle, with a highly trained and well equipped army facing down the unarmed citizens it was sworn to protect. Citizens fought for seven hours against troops to keep them from attacking students who remained in the Square. Seven hours in which the US intelligence Service estimated initially, up to 500 dead and thousands injured.

Initially, teargas and truncheons were the PLA’s weapons of choice, but these were just a preliminary warning. Shooting began shortly thereafter. Protesters did not seem fazed by the violence and stood their ground, swarming around tanks and APCs and attacking the PLA with Molotov cocktails, bottles and rocks.

As the troops won their inequitable battle and entered Tiananmen Square, protesting students had already started to leave their positions and disperse. The PLA opened fire indiscriminately on the student demonstrators who remained. The 27th Army suffered its share of losses as well. APCs were set on fire by protesters and soldiers trying to escape the flames were beaten to death. As the sun rose on the morning of June 4th, no one had an answer to the question as to who authorized the streets of Beijing to be stained with its citizens’ blood? [2]

The battle meanwhile, waged mainly on the approach roads to the square, where students and Beijing’s citizens attempted to slow down the PLA advance with bricks and stones. Most of the students in the square had left in groups, heading east. Those left behind were beaten, shot or run over by PLA tanks. Students attempting to talk to the PLA were shot on approach and there were pitched battles between Beijing citizens and the PLA at major intersections around the city.[3]

As the day wore on, reports from foreign media, consular staff of various countries and international students flowed into the international news. Troops fired indiscriminately into crowds; students, foreign reporters and workers were beaten and hospitals started to overflow with the dead and injured. But in the worst of the atrocities, were confirmed reports of students being shot in the back as they fled the advancing columns of the PLA.[4]

The Tiananmen Square incident did not just contain itself to those two days in June. The crackdown continued with the Government of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) issuing warnings of executions of students and arrests of student leaders. Clashes with civilians in and around Beijing continued even as non-violent protests took place in other Chinese cities.

The Chinese Red Cross estimated 2,600 military and civilian deaths with 7,000 injured, but these figures did not include deaths on the streets of the city. Their tally was a compilation of data from Beijing Hospitals. Official casualty statistics differed markedly from these and were contradictory to an extent. While one official version put the number of deaths, both military and civilian, at 300 on June 7th, another reported 5,000 injured troops and 3,000 civilian injuries. But an official press release on June 14th claimed 100 military deaths and thousands of injuries along with 100 civilian deaths and 1,000 civilian injuries.

References:
[1] Cable, From: Department of State, Wash DC, To: U.S. Embassy Beijing, and All Diplomatic and Consular Posts, TFCHO1: SITREP 1, 1700 EDT (June 3, 1989) ;US National Security Archive
[2] US Secretary of State's Morning Summary for June 4, 1989, China: Troops Open Fire; US National Security Archive
[3] Cable, From: U.S. Embassy Beijing, To: Department of State, Wash DC, What Happened on the Night of June 3/4? (June 22, 1989)
[4] Secretary of State's Morning Summary for June 5, 1989, China: After the Bloodbath

© All Rights Reserved Maithreyi Seetharaman 2005