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Commander who defied orders to quash Tiananmen student protests remains in custody

蘋果日報 2020/06/04 13:07


A former Chinese army commander who defied orders to quash the June 4 student protests in Tiananmen Square remained in custody in a military hospital ahead of the crackdown’s 31st anniversary.
Xu Qinxian, 85, headed the 38th Group Army when he was ordered to pledge support for the use of military force to stop the pro-democracy protests. After he refused, he was kicked out of the Chinese Communist Party and jailed for five years.
A person familiar with the situation said Xu was very ill and could not care for himself. Relatives could only visit him at the hospital in Hebei, a province in northern China, after registering with authorities, the person said, adding that it was likely that Xu would spend the rest of his life in custody.
Surveillance ahead of the June 4 anniversary continues to be strict. An artist in mainland China was taken away after he posted a picture on WeChat that showed him in a t-shirt with the numbers six and four on it.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement on Wednesday that China should “reassess the historical facts about the June 4 incident and sincerely apologise." The council also urged Beijing to release Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che, who has been imprisoned in China for subversion of state power.
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