Wikileaks cables reveal there was no massacre in Tiananmen Square

[Jingles]

^Apparently they weren't lying.

Wikileaks: no bloodshed inside Tiananmen Square, cables claim

Secret cables from the United States embassy in Beijing have shown there was no bloodshed inside Tiananmen Square when China put down student pro-democracy demonstrations 22 years ago.


The cables, obtained by WikiLeaks and released exclusively by The Daily Telegraph, partly confirm the Chinese government's account of the early hours of June 4, 1989, which has always insisted that soldiers did not massacre demonstrators inside Tiananmen Square.

Instead, the cables show that Chinese soldiers opened fire on protesters outside the centre of Beijing, as they fought their way towards the square from the west of the city.

Three cables were sent from the US embassy on June 3, in the hours leading up to the suppression, as diplomats realised that the final showdown between the protesters and soldiers was looming.

The cables described the "10,000 to 15,000 helmeted armed troops" moving into the city, some of whom were "carrying automatic weapons".

Meanwhile, "elite airborne troops" and "tank units" were said to be moving up from the south.

Points of interest:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Inside the square itself, a Chilean diplomat was on hand to give his US counterparts an eyewitness account of the final hours of the pro-democracy movement.
"He watched the military enter the square and did not observe any mass firing of weapons into the crowds, although sporadic gunfire was heard. He said that most of the troops which entered the square were actually armed only with anti-riot gear – truncheons and wooden clubs; they were backed up by armed soldiers," a cable from July 1989 said.

Leaders of the protest, including Liu Xiaobo, the winner of last year's Nobel Peace prize, urged the students to depart the square, and the Chilean diplomat relayed that "once agreement was reached for the students to withdraw, linking hands to form a column, the students left the square through the south east corner." The testimony contradicts the reports of several journalists who were in Beijing at the time, who described soldiers "charging" into unarmed civilians and suggests the death toll on the night may be far lower than the thousands previously thought.

In 2009, James Miles, who was the BBC correspondent in Beijing at the time, admitted that he had "conveyed the wrong impression" and that "there was no massacre on Tiananmen Square. Protesters who were still in the square when the army reached it were allowed to leave after negotiations with martial law troops [ ...] There was no Tiananmen Square massacre, but there was a Beijing massacre".

Full Article:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...les-claim.html

This news will likely come as no real surprise to anyone who has discussed the Tiananmen square demonstration with people from China itself, but it's still interesting nonetheless.

The examples of twitter-spawned nonsense in Libya aside, it is surprising to see respectable media outlets having outright lied in this day and age. Call me naive, but I figured that was the domain of the pre-1960s world, at least outside of the iron curtain.

Still I bet you at least one tin-foil hatter will claim Wikileaks are in the pay of the Chinese.

[SorelusImperion]

Instead, the cables show thatChinese soldiers opened fire on protesters outside the centre of Beijing, as they fought their way towards the square from the west of the city.

Still seems like a massacre to me.
That it started before the protesters reached the square is farily insignificant.

There was no Tiananmen Square massacre, but there was a Beijing massacre

[nameless]

Still seems like a massacre to me.
That it started before the protesters reached the square is farily insignificant.

Well the cables does say "No massacre in Tiananmen Square" which apparently is the point of what the OP is stating.

I mean the whole time people were talking about how thousands of students were gunned down in the square and now apparently that story is a lie.

Wait a minute, it says that shootings on protesters did happen, well that was clearly seen, and the word of one chilean ambassador that says he did not see it in the square but still heard gunshots from in the square. Yea I am not sure what they have lied about.

It does sound confusing but if I'm guessing this correctly it says the Chinese troops were fighting to get INTO the square. So perhaps while enroute they got into scuffles and misc fights with the sporadic gunshots (warning or not) with very little casualties. By the time they got into the square where the actual protest was happening they were able to disperse the students no problem.

I seriously doubt that the Tiananmen Square massacre never happened. If it didn't happen, why does China still censor information on it?

Because it's an embarrassment to the Chinese government that so many young people got together to "challenge" their authority. They'd rather cover up the whole thing to begin with even if no one got hurt.

I have looked at the BBC, yahoo news, the guardian, CNN, and i even looked at Fox News and none of them are reporting on this story. I remember a thread poping up not too long ago about the US giving the Soviets the location of British nuclear subs (I think?) that was from a Wiki leaks cable. This story was also for the telegraph and funny enough no other news station was also reporting the news story. I think this story is just a sham really.

This is going back to June 4, 2011 too.

[charles the hammer]

Well the cables does say "No massacre in Tiananmen Square" which apparently is the point of what the OP is stating.

I mean the whole time people were talking about how thousands of students were gunned down in the square and now apparently that story is a lie.



It does sound confusing but if I'm guessing this correctly it says the Chinese troops were fighting to get INTO the square. So perhaps while enroute they got into scuffles and misc fights with the sporadic gunshots (warning or not) with very little casualties. By the time they got into the square where the actual protest was happening they were able to disperse the students no problem.




Because it's an embarrassment to the Chinese government that so many young people got together to "challenge" their authority. They'd rather cover up the whole thing to begin with even if no one got hurt.

This does raise one odd question, why are these people who apparently think this is wrong not coming out? I mean it makes no sense. Not to mention it says no bloodshed in the square when apparently the guy heard gunshots within the square.

[nameless]

Yeah it's weird.

Though the diplomat said that was no MASS FIRING but heard sporadic gunfire.

From the China side, the whole thing is a black eye even if a fly wasn't hurt because it was a symbolic attack to the government so they wouldn't say anything period. They'd rather not bring it up at all.

On the western side....I don't know, perhaps it's been such a long time and that since China has come out more that Tiananmen has lost its "punch"?

[The excited one]

Because it's an embarrassment to the Chinese government that so many young people got together to "challenge" their authority. They'd rather cover up the whole thing to begin with even if no one got hurt.

i must say that they will lose "face" really badly if they say that loads of students had occupied some of the most important places of the communist party to everyone else in the world....... and also it is their cultural sense that they would rather lose reputation within the international community than losing "face" (sth that chinese people don't want to lose for some reasons unknown throught history....) oh well atleast we know the "truth" for now.......

p.s i wonder what are the student protest leaders (most living in america and well-off) during the Tiananmen will say if there is no "masscre" there????

[Denny Crane!]

Well I can't say I'm not intrigued!

[charles the hammer]

Wait a minute, it says that shootings on protesters did happen, well that was clearly seen, and the word of one chilean ambassador that says he did not see it in the square but still heard gunshots from in the square. Yea I am not sure what they have lied about.

[Vanoi]

Wait a minute, it says that shootings on protesters did happen, well that was clearly seen, and the word of one chilean ambassador that says he did not see it in the square but still heard gunshots from in the square. Yea I am not sure what they have lied about.

I have looked at the BBC, yahoo news, the guardian, CNN, and i even looked at Fox News and none of them are reporting on this story. I remember a thread poping up not too long ago about the US giving the Soviets the location of British nuclear subs (I think?) that was from a Wiki leaks cable. This story was also for the telegraph and funny enough no other news station was also reporting the news story. I think this story is just a sham really.

[Vanoi]

I seriously doubt that the Tiananmen Square massacre never happened. If it didn't happen, why does China still censor information on it?

[SonOfOdin]

I seriously doubt that the Tiananmen Square massacre never happened. If it didn't happen, why does China still censor information on it?

Well, China likes to keep a lot of things secret, doesn't it?

[Heathen Hammer]

Well, China likes to keep a lot of things secret, doesn't it?

Just like most of countries in the world?

[sephodwyrm]

Well, China likes to keep a lot of things secret, doesn't it?

Truth is nearly always under the guard of an army of lies.

loads of students had occupied some of the most important places of the communist party to everyone else in the world

Except the Chinese students are leftist-libertarians and are sorely against the market initiated reforms that they view as capitalist, consumerist, evil and well...not giving them a fair share.

[Vanoi]

Well, China likes to keep a lot of things secret, doesn't it?

I know, but i still doubt this article highly, seeing as the telegraph isn't a very reliable source to me, and seeing as not a single other major news sources have reported on it.

Just like most of countries in the world?

Yep, but i do not know many countries in a war that try to hide a secret like shooting hundreads of un-armed protestors.

[Heathen Hammer]

Yep, but i do not know many countries in a war that try to hide a secret like shooting hundreads of un-armed protestors.

Its not the only thing that can be hidden. Plus its not like Chinese government hides, it just ignores it instead. Thats was probably the reason why Assange is being so harassed - he exposed very "inconvenient" information.

[Vanoi]

Its not the only thing that can be hidden. Plus its not like Chinese government hides, it just ignores it instead. Thats was probably the reason why Assange is being so harassed - he exposed very "inconvenient" information.

No, they hide it. If you go on the internet in China, its blocked information. You can't go anywhere in China (except hong kong) and look up information on it.

[Denny Crane!]

Hang on so they did fire on the crowd? Well to be fair they call sunday bloody sunday a massacre how is this different, maybe numbers?

I'll have to have a sift through the sources.

[Heathen Hammer]

Looks like there soon will be another CIA agent claiming he/she got assaulted by Assange....

[Grouchio]

Looks like there soon will be another CIA agent claiming he/she got assaulted by Assange....

And make a sequel to that bad*** movie Salt.

[SorelusImperion]

Well the cables does say "No massacre in Tiananmen Square" which apparently is the point of what the OP is stating.

I suspect that wants he emphasizes the "No massacre" part otherwise it wouldn't be the big exciting news he pretends it is. Because as I said it's largely irrelevant to the big picture whether the massacre happened on the place itself or a few steps away.