Joamg Zemin Reportedly Had a Role in June 4th Massacre

China News Digest, 25 June 2001

[CND, 06/25/01] Former director of Xinhua News Agency's Hong Kong branch, XU Jiatun, was quoted as saying that Chinese President JIANG Zemin was a key figure among the leaders who decided to use military forces to crack down student movement in June 1989, AFP reported on Saturday.

XU Jiatun defected to the United States in 1990 after he was removed from the post of China's former de facto envoy in Hong Kong. Xu was one of the high ranking officials who were very close to former CCP general secretary ZHAO Ziyang and had access to information only available to top leaders during June 1989.

Xu said JIANG Zemin was called to Beijing by DENG Xiaoping shortly before the brutal crackdown in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, and then promoted from secretary of the communist party's Shanghai municipal committee to general secretary of the central committee and given membership of the politburo standing committee by DENG Xiaoping shortly after June 4th Massacre. From this point of view, it could not be said that JIANG Zemin has nothing to do with the June 4 event, Xu said in a recent interview with Chinese media in the US.

Xu also said the book the Tiananmen Papers, published earlier this year, was about 70 to 80 percent accurate, while the Chinese government called the book sheer fabrication. (Bo Xiong)