and his supporters, who acknowledged the students’ concerns to be legitimate and promised dialogue, satisfied the majority of the students.
The remaining students looking to reinvigorate the movement however began developing new tactics, and as a result the hunger strike commenced on May 13th. This was two days prior to the visit by Mikhail Gorbachev to China, which was the first visit to China by a Soviet leader in twenty years and signaled possible normalization of relations between the two states. In a confidential Intelligence Research Report produced in December 1988, the US intelligence views the visit to be more symbolic than substance. As a symbolic meeting however, for it to be disrupted by the student movement would be a national …show more content…
In the Secretary’s Morning Summary for June 1st, 1989, it details that Zhao, like Hu before him, “is now accused of opposing efforts to curb ‘bourgeois liberalization’”. In his own diaries, Zhao admits he knew the consequences of his opposition to the eventual crackdown, writing that “mentally, I was fully prepared, I knew that if I persistently upheld my view, I would ultimately be compelled to step down.” Defeat for the reformers came quick after that, and on the night of June 3rd, order was given that Tiananmen Square must be cleared by June 4th 6:00AM. In a confrontation between those with guns and those without, the outcome did not produce any surprise – it was a one sided bloodshed. It did however generate tremendous outrage and disbelief that those who have sworn to protect the people would now fire on them, and the situation continued to remain tense for another two days. Nevertheless, the CCP controlled the situation with an iron fist, and protests elsewhere in the country were managed and dissipated. In particular, the successful and peaceful management of the students in Shanghai by Jiang Zemin eventually led to his political rise in the
The remaining students looking to reinvigorate the movement however began developing new tactics, and as a result the hunger strike commenced on May 13th. This was two days prior to the visit by Mikhail Gorbachev to China, which was the first visit to China by a Soviet leader in twenty years and signaled possible normalization of relations between the two states. In a confidential Intelligence Research Report produced in December 1988, the US intelligence views the visit to be more symbolic than substance. As a symbolic meeting however, for it to be disrupted by the student movement would be a national …show more content…
In the Secretary’s Morning Summary for June 1st, 1989, it details that Zhao, like Hu before him, “is now accused of opposing efforts to curb ‘bourgeois liberalization’”. In his own diaries, Zhao admits he knew the consequences of his opposition to the eventual crackdown, writing that “mentally, I was fully prepared, I knew that if I persistently upheld my view, I would ultimately be compelled to step down.” Defeat for the reformers came quick after that, and on the night of June 3rd, order was given that Tiananmen Square must be cleared by June 4th 6:00AM. In a confrontation between those with guns and those without, the outcome did not produce any surprise – it was a one sided bloodshed. It did however generate tremendous outrage and disbelief that those who have sworn to protect the people would now fire on them, and the situation continued to remain tense for another two days. Nevertheless, the CCP controlled the situation with an iron fist, and protests elsewhere in the country were managed and dissipated. In particular, the successful and peaceful management of the students in Shanghai by Jiang Zemin eventually led to his political rise in the