Global InformationInsubordination in the PLA during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre information
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The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre saw a massive redeployment of People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops into and around Beijing.[1] After the declaration of martial law, the Central Military Commission (CMC) mobilized at least 22 divisions from 13 Armies, which converged on Beijing. This force far exceeded the local garrison, with troops being sent in from across China. Altogether, roughly 300,000 troops were involved in the campaign to quell the protests. By their end, the PLA had proven that it was largely willing to enforce party decrees with lethal force.[2] Multiple significant breaches of military discipline occurred after the imposition of martial law. Some cases involved officers or entire units being unwilling to obey directives from farther up the chain of command, others related to the misuse of military equipment, and some were responsible for casualties incurred during the night of June 3 (when the PLA finally reached Tiananmen Square). It is unclear when, how, or even if some PLA units received orders to open fire on the protesters, and so knowing whether or not an incident amounts to insubordination is difficult. If the PLA as a whole received orders to use lethal force, CMC chairman Deng Xiaoping must have given his assent to it.[3] CMC vice-chairman and President Yang Shangkun's orders to the Central Military Commission on the 20th of May 1989 explicitly deny troops the authority to use lethal force during martial law, even when their lives are threatened by the protesters.[4] According to Li Xinming's report to the politburo on June 19 however, 10 PLA soldiers did end up dying, along with 13 from the People's Armed Police. For these 23 dead, they inflicted 218 deaths on the protesters,[5] although some sources place this number in the thousands.
- ^ Tiananmen Papers, Excerpt from the Central Military Committee Minutes of May 20th 1989 (New York: PublicAffairs, 2001) p. 239.
- ^ Harlan Jencks, The aftermath of the 1989 Tiananmen Crisis in mainland China (London: Westview Press, 1992) P. 147-148.
- ^ Timothy Brook, Quelling the people: The military suppression of the Beijing Democracy movement (New York: Oxford University Press, 192). P.121.
- ^ Tiananmen Papers, Excerpt from the Central Military Committee office (New York: PublicAffairs, 2001) p. 242.
- ^ Tiananmen Papers, Excerpts from Li Xinming "Report on Pacifying the Counter-revolutionary riots in Beijing" (New York: PublicAffairs, 2001) p. 436.