Reflections on 4th June

When the Tiananmen Incident took place 20 years ago, many of us in Singapore, especially ethnic Chinese, felt very upset.  At that time, I had been in politics for less than a year.  I remember the Singapore Government issueing a statement expressing our horror and disappointment.  My late mother, who was born in China and read only Chinese newspapers, took a different view.  She saw the student unrest as being partly instigated by outsiders and took particular objection to the symbolism of the Goddess of Democracy.

Twenty years have passed and the China we see today is a global power with whom the US has to deal with almost as an equal. In the Financial Times this morning, US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was reported to have said that "China backs US stimulus".  At Beijing University, he assured students that "Chinese financial assets (in the US) are very safe".  China has become the US' biggest creditor.

In Chinese historical terms, 20 years is not a long time.  Only after almost a century is the official history of the Qing Dynasty now being written up in China.  While one might reasonably argue that the student uprising at Tiananmen could have been put down with less bloodshed,  few doubt that China could be where it is today without strong and decisive leadership.

George Yeo

Comments

[RichWee]

Jun 4 is an important date in China's history. Many in the Chinese Leadership wanted to ignore this day. The video and picture of the student uprising and the confrontation with the military might is etched in memory and history forever. However, from an outsider, we can be emotional about this event. The question is how will another country handle the same situation if presented with one?

[George]

George,
I do think there is a very significant difference between the Qing and the Gate of Heavenly Peace incident.

It is sufficient to point out the difference in accessibility between the two, the age of the Internet versus the age of a decaying empire wrought with palace intrigues, 'foreign devils' in its backyard, a fuedal system, etc.

[MatthewTan]

Chinese troops did not have anti-riot gears. That's the problem when a country is poor.

See US declassified documents:

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/documents/09-01.htm
Troops initially unarmed but were driven back by protesters.

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB16/documents/13-01.htm
“thousands of civilians stood their ground or swarmed around military vehicles. APCs were set on fire, and demonstrators besieged troops with rocks, bottles, and Molotov cocktails.”

Zhao Ziyang mentions in his recently published memoirs that the PLA was attacked.

I just learned that Molotov cocktails have been used in the WW2 as anti-tank weapons.

Weapons of wars, terrorism and riots. Anti-tank weapons.
http://www.winterwar.com/Weapons/FinAT/FINantitank2.htm#molotov

Many protesters were armed - some with Molotov Cocktails. There were dark organized forces at work. You see a lot of fires and burnt vehicles in many Tiananmen videos.

You must view this. They are the most complete videos I have seen. Series 1 to 3 all in Mandarin; all produced by the PLA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otTbOxLesg0&feature=related
(Chinese text)
換個角度看六四 八九天安門事件解放軍縂政治部資料片（一）
由解放軍縂政治部拍攝的珍貴官方片斷，雖然片中官方有意"忽略" 了部隊使用過份武力的片段，但也提醒我們重新思考，支聯會年年反 復播放的片段中，是否也有意"忽略"了部分史實？偏聼則暗兼聼則明，無論大陸抑或港澳臺和海外的華人都應該對所謂"反革命暴亂" 或者"屠城"的偏激看法作一次重新的認識。