SECURITY TIGHT, MEDIA SILENT ON 17TH ANNIVERSARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIJING 011182

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2031
TAGS: PHUM PREL CH
SUBJECT: SECURITY TIGHT, MEDIA SILENT ON 17TH ANNIVERSARY
OF TIANANMEN

REF: BEIJING 10507

Classified By:
Classified by Political Internal Unit Chief Kin Moy.
Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) The seventeenth anniversary of the Tiananmen
Square crackdown of June 4, 1989 passed quietly on
Sunday, with an elevated security presence in and
around the Square. Poloffs visiting the Square
throughout the day saw no protest activity or police
actions, although press reports later said that two
people had been detained in separate incidents.
Former leader Zhao Ziyang's home was quiet and
Tiananmen activist Qi Zhiyong said no protest
activities had been planned. Although many,
particularly young people, know little of the 1989
violence amid the official silence, it nevertheless
remains a key harbinger of political change for
reformist elites. End Summary.


2. (C) The seventeenth anniversary of the Tiananmen
Square events of June 4, 1989 passed quietly on
Sunday, with an elevated security presence in and
around the crowded Square. Passersby and tour groups
appeared to be unaware of the significance of the
date, however. Police monitored local subway stations
and were noticeably present, including several
busloads of riot police parked on the Square. Groups
of plainclothes security loitered near the buses and
mingled with police.


3. (C) Poloffs visiting the Square throughout the day
saw no organized protest activity or police actions,
although press reports later said that two people had
been detained on the Square in separate incidents.
There have been some reports of preventive detention
of activists surrounding the anniversary, and security
around Beijing and on campuses was elevated over the
weekend.


4. (C) Text messages circulated on June 4 urging
activists to take a walk on the Square, but Qi
Zhiyong, an activist who lost his legs when soldiers
fired on demonstrators in 1989, told poloff there were
no organized or public activities. All was quiet at
the family residence of former Chinese Premier Zhao
Ziyang, whose death over a year ago sparked renewed
calls for a reassessment of June 4. There was no
visible security presence or activity at the home,
although a number of cars were parked near the
entrance. The police station across the alley from
Zhao's front door was also quiet.


5. (C) Head of the Tiananmen Mothers group Ding Zilin
issued an appeal for reassessment of the 1989
Tiananmen events on May 29, but few in the Mainland
were aware of it. There was no commentary in Mainland
media on the anniversary and a reference to the
anniversary by the MFA spokesperson at the regular
June 1 press briefing was deleted from the published
transcript. No comments on the June 4 anniversary
were apparent on Mainland chatrooms monitored by
Embassy staff.

Comment
--------------


6. (C) While the issue of the Chinese Communist
Party's assessment of Tiananmen remains a rallying cry
for activists and intellectuals here and triggers
intensified security, current-day university students
know little of the 1989 events and many others have
moved on. As noted reftel, however, for many
reformers and elites, a reassessment of Tiananmen
remains the key test of China's political transition
and they continue to press for movement toward a full
reckoning by the government. One reformer e-mail
listserve was circulating information this week on how
the 1980 Kwangju Massacre in South Korea has been
addressed by the government there in recent years, an
oblique way of building solidarity among those who can
not forget.
RANDT