Chen Xitong, who was Beijing mayor during the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, said he was "sorry" and that the deaths could have been avoided, according to a book to be released this week. Chen, who fell from grace in one of China's biggest political scandals, was widely seen as the official who pushed for the use of military force against the student-led protests in the heart of the capital.
The 81-year-old, who in 1998 was sentenced to 16 years in jail on corruption charges, however attempted to play down his role in the new book, saying he was merely acting on orders from the top leadership. "I feel sorry," Chen said in the Chinese-language book "Conversations with Chen Xitong" which will hit Hong Kong book stores on Friday ahead of the 23rd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.
"Nobody should have died in the June 4 incident if it was handled properly. I feel sorry, but I could not do anything, very sorry," he said, according to a copy of the book given to AFP. "I believe the truth of the 1989 episode will be uncovered one day," Chen told Chinese scholar and author Yao Jianfu, who wrote the book based on eight interviews with Chen between January 2011 and April this year.