(TibetanReview.net, Aug20’26) – While even an indication of referring to the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre by ordinary citizens invites instant merciless crackdown, President Xi Jinping has on Aug 17 praised the Communist Party of China (CPC) he heads for that clampdown in a landmark speech marking the centenary of the birth of one of his predecessors – Jiang Zemin – who rose to power in its aftermath. Jiang was China’s top party leader from 1989 to 2002, state president from 1993 to 2003, and continued as the chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2004. He died in 2022.
It was a bullish speech in which Xi, Addressing thousands of officials and delegates in the Great Hall of the People, called on his country to show an “indomitable fighting spirit”, noted edition.cnn.com Aug 17.
In his 45-minute speech, Xi praised a long list of Jiang’s achievements, including a rare mention of the Tiananmen square democracy protests, hailing the CPC’s ultimate decision to reject the protesters’ demands and clear the square using troops and tanks, calling the student-led democracy protest that began in Apr 1989 “a serious political upheaval”.
“In between of the spring and summer of 1989, China experienced a serious political upheaval, Comrade Jiang Zemin resolutely supported and implemented the Central Committee’s correct decisions, effectively maintaining stability in Shanghai,” Xi was quoted as saying.
The protest began after widespread mourning for the death on Apr 15, 1989 of Hu Yaobang, who was seen by the public as a champion for liberalization and who had been ousted from his position two years earlier.
Days after Hu’s death, thousands of grieving students marched through Beijing, calling for a more democratic government in his honour. Protesters gathered on Tiananmen Square and their numbers continued to swell over several weeks until Jun 4, when the People’s Liberation Army troops of the CPC sent in tanks and fired on them.
The role played by the then President Yang Shangkun during the protest was stated to have caused a fundamental shift in China’s political structure. Yang was at first sympathetic to the students and sided with General Secretary Zhao Ziyang in supporting them. As the Vice Chairman and Secretary-General of the Central Military commission, he even praised Zhao’s position by claiming that his “notion of pacifying the student movement through democracy and law is good and seems quite workable right now.”
However, Zhao’s position was stated to have been contested by Premier Li Peng and Party elder Li Xianniuan, who wanted to use force to suppress the student demonstrations and reportedly engaged in an internal power struggle with Zhao to convince other senior leaders of their position.
After the hardliners gained the upper hand with then paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s support, Yang was stated to have changed his position and supported the use of force to suppress student protestors. In May 1989, he appeared on state television, where he denounced the student demonstrations as “anarchy” and defended the imposition of martial law on several areas of Beijing affected by the protests.
Jiang unexpectedly became General Secretary of the CPC shortly after the crackdown in part because the person he replaced, Zhao Ziyang, was seen as being unduly sympathetic to the protesters. By 1993 Jiang was the undisputed leader of China, the report noted.
Jiang’s contribution to support party rulers’ decision to clamp down on protesters was also stated to have been mentioned in a 12-episode documentary that aired on state TV last week to commemorate his life. However, it did not show any footage of the killings that shocked the world. Those images are routinely scrubbed from China’s heavily censored internet and discussion of what happened remains fraught with risk to this day, the report said.
Jiang’s term saw China’s economy charge ahead and open up to the world, culminating in the country joining the World Trade Organization – with US support – in 2001. It was a period of intense economic growth for China, with improved relations with the US.
In his speech, which was also broadcast and published by state media, Xi has talked up the nation’s accomplishments under his leadership, saying that “people’s lives continue to improve,” even as data shows slowing economic growth, the report noted.
“The prospects for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation are bright, and the dream for which several generations have strived with unwavering determination is gradually becoming a reality,” he has added.