Video shows Gen Xu Qinxian explaining why he refused to deploy troops to crush 1989 student-led demonstrations

Video shows Gen Xu Qinxian explaining why he refused to deploy troops to crush 1989 student-led demonstrations

Rare footage of a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general who defied orders to lead his troops into Tiananmen Square and crush the 1989 student protesters has been leaked online, offering a highly unusual glimpse into the upper echelons of the military at one of the most fraught moments in modern Chinese history.

General Xu Qinxian’s refusal to take his troops from the PLA’s prestigious 38th Group Army, a unit based on the outskirts of Beijing, into the capital has been the stuff of Tiananmen lore for decades.

The six-hour video recording of Gen Xu’s court martial hearing the next year sheds light on the rare act of defiance. In the video, Xu said he refused because he did not want to become “a sinner in history”.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    10 hours ago

    Success

    Why China’s property crash must be kept top secret

    Cheap Housing… Bad?

    Peaceful?

    This analysis contends that China’s aggressive actions represent a deliberate violation of international maritime law and the South China Sea Code of Conduct.

    A South China Sea code of conduct has been under discussion for over two decades.

    You broke a set of rules we haven’t even defined yet!

    Not doing terrible things to their citizens?

    China signs police patrol agreements with nations

    In 2016, an Italian police official told NPR that joint policing would “lead to a wider international cooperation, exchange of information and sharing resources to combat the criminal and terrorist groups that afflict our countries.”

    Those monsters.

    • Natanael@infosec.pubEnglish
      1·
      27 minutes ago

      Cheap housing good. Collapsing industry so houses can’t continue to be built where needed and so that houses can’t be maintained is bad.

      Violating other countries sea borders isn’t undefined.

      Yes, monsters when they kidnap dissidents and call them terrorists.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        9 minutes ago

        Collapsing industry so houses can’t continue to be built

        Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday showed that nationwide residential housing starts fell 19.9% year-on-year in the first 11 months of 2025 to 392 million square meters, while new home sales dropped 8.1% to 658 million square meters.

        So demand is off it’s peak, but they’re still building about half a Cleveland’s worth of homes this year.

        I wouldn’t consider that an economy which has forgotten how to build housing.

        Violating other countries sea borders isn’t undefined.

        Whose borders?

        Yes, monsters when they kidnap dissidents and call them terrorists.

        Does murdering your pregnant girlfriend make you a dissident?