Chinese Dissent on the Line : Tian An Men Square Anniversary Spurs Crackdown on Activists

These are tense and brave times in the Chinese capital.

In an attempt to erase the memory of the bloody army crackdown on demonstrators in Tian An Men Square six years ago today, the Communist government has detained or arrested more than 40 dissidents across China.

Groups of Chinese citizens have risked arrest by drafting a flurry of petitions in a campaign to help people remember that People’s Liberation Army troops opened fire on unarmed civilians, resulting in hundreds of deaths on Beijing streets. Several of the petitions demand an accounting and official reassessment of the events.

Never in the post-Tian An Men era have so many people stood up to air their grievances.

With 90-year-old senior leader Deng Xiaoping in failing health, the standoff between the Chinese regime and its would-be reformers offers a preview of the debates over human rights issues that are expected to follow Deng’s death. Many here, in fact, believe that the wave of petitions would not have occurred without at least the tacit approval of some liberal factions of the ruling Communist Party.

At least seven petitions have surfaced, including one issued May 15 and signed by 45 leading scientists and intellectuals, many of whom had never before entered the public debate. Among them was Wang Ganchang, a distinguished nuclear physicist and the father of China’s atom bomb.

Another petition, signed by 27 relatives of victims of the army crackdown, called for an independent commission to investigate the 1989 events.

The most recent petition, bearing the names of 17 people still in jail on charges related to the Tian An Men episode, calls for a reversal of the government verdict that branded the massive demonstrations in Beijing’s central square a “counterrevolutionary riot.”

“In these six years,” wrote the petition’s author, Yu Zhijian, “we have never regretted the road we have taken or the things we have done. Every day, in our hearts, we think of only one thing: Reverse the verdict on June 4.”

Yu, 28, is serving a life sentence in a Hunan province prison for throwing ink-filled eggs at the Tian An Men Square portrait of Mao Tse-tung.

One petition, circulated without signatures by an underground Beijing Protestant organization, the Holy Spirit Assn., did not mention the Tian An Men incident but appealed to the government to raise wages and improve housing conditions.

“I don’t recall any previous June 4 since 1989 that has produced this kind of activity,” said Robin Munro, the Hong Kong-based representative of Human Rights Watch.

Human rights activists were surprised that the petitions came at a time when the level of dissent in China is generally considered low.

China’s most famous dissident, Wei Jingsheng, has disappeared after being picked up by authorities more than a year ago. Other leading opposition figures, such as 1989 Democracy Wall Movement organizer Wang Juntao, live in forced exile in the United States.

But the dissident movement appears to have been helped recently by the increased participation of overseas Chinese students and exiled activists, some of whom use China’s recent access to the worldwide Internet communications system to connect with their counterparts on the mainland.

According to some sources, the decision to rev up anti-government activities came after a debate among overseas activists. Some of the organizers reportedly favored waiting until the political struggle to replace Deng was more fully under way before launching an active opposition effort.

But recent demands that the government review the tragic events of Tian An Men Square provided an opening. “June 4,” said Munro, “is still the Gordian knot that has to be cut sooner or later.”

Not coincidentally, the slew of petitions was accompanied by the largest roundup of dissidents the government has ever launched during the weeks preceding the anniversary. According to the most recent but imprecise count, more than 40 activists have been detained, and 25 of them are still in custody.

The detentions sparked protests in Hong Kong and even another petition: Last week, Lin Mu, former secretary to the late Communist Party reformer Hu Yaobang, issued a petition protesting the harsh treatment of some of those who signed previous appeals.

Despite the extensive roundup of activists, one leading dissident intellectual who was jailed after the 1989 crackdown described the current atmosphere for dissent as “relatively relaxed.”

In fact, the crackdown by agents of the State Security Bureau appears aimed primarily at keeping the debate from spilling into the streets. Most of those who have been detained have a history of addressing public rallies.

On Thursday, police moved to close student bars and cafes that might serve as rallying points for beer-emboldened protesters this weekend. The manager of the Moon House bar near Beijing University was told to shut the establishment, favored by French exchange students and their Chinese friends, until Wednesday.

Meanwhile, armchair intellectuals such as 75-year-old science historian Xu Liangying have been left virtually alone by authorities. Xu, translator of the works of Albert Einstein, wrote the May 15 petition, which called for a reassessment of the Tian An Men incident.

Although three State Security Bureau agents have been installed on the ground floor of his apartment building in northwest Beijing, they are mainly concerned about prohibiting foreign reporters from entering. Xu himself has never been questioned about the petition.

Another signer of the same petition, however, suffered a different fate. Liu Nianchun, 47, has a long history of political dissent and has been arrested several times. According to his wife, the government offered Liu and his family a free trip to Hainan Island in southernmost China if he would leave town during the key dates.

Liu declined the offer. Before long, police showed up at his apartment and took him away on unspecified charges.