Full text: Bao Tong's report on the Tiananmen crackdown

The following is the final section of a document obtained by CNN and written by Bao Tong, a close aide to China's disgraced communist party chief Zhao Ziyang, describing the events leading up to the crackdown on student protests in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

My conversation with Comrade Chen Yizi on May 20th and its impact

On the morning of May 20th, Chen Yizi and three other comrades came to my office. We talked for about half an hour to one hour. I had not asked them to come, and I did not know beforehand. I don't remember all of the conversation. Given the overall situation at that time, it is highly possible that Chen Yizi said to me that the Office of Research for Economic Reform had sent out a declaration, but I did not know the content of the declaration (I learned the contents later from Comrade Chen Xitong's report). It is not necessary to talk more about the contents here. The military was entering Beijing at that time; it is possible that Chen told me about troops being blocked by civilians; it is also possible that I said something like "Riding a tiger, hard to get-off," etc. But I could not have said what I really thought, which is, that we were making a terribly wrong move. It was possible that Chen talked about Comrade Ziyang, or expressed his support for Zhao's ADB speech. It was also very possible that I made positive remarks about Comrade Ziyang, but I could not have said good things about the ADB speech since I knew the Standing Committee had criticized the speech. I also absolutely could not have revealed anything regarding Comrade Ziyang's resignation and criticism by Comrade Shangkun. (I had not told anyone in or outside of the office).

I do remember I made negative remarks about Comrade Li Peng. I said, "Whenever people complain about business deals with official background, they mention companies, and Comrade Xiaoping and Comrade Ziyang's children working in those companies. But I have heard that Comrade Li Peng's children also worked in those companies, and worst of all, got into a fight after getting drunk and was detained by the police." I said, "The students pointed out Comrade Ziyang playing golf, but what about Comrade Li Peng's swimming! I hear the PLA General Supply built a rest room (adjoining the swimming pool) for him and spent over a million yuan." I also said, "There is no other comrade but Li Peng who brings his wife with him on official visits abroad. I hear she lost a piece of jewelry in a hotel abroad and filed a formal diplomatic protest. It turned out to be a worthless fake. Such lack of dignity!"

All of the three things I mentioned were petty rumors I had heard, but because I was angry towards Comrade Li Peng, I couldn't help but reveal them all. After Chen left, I regretted it, and was afraid Chen would spread these petty rumors. I asked Comrade Gao Shan (who was not present at the time of the conversation) to find Chen immediately and tell him not to spread them to the public. If he did, he would cause trouble, and possible bring Comrade Ziyang trouble, too (though in fact this has nothing to do with Comrade Ziyang, whatsoever). The reason that I asked Gao Shan to send the message was that I did not want any more trouble for myself, and I had not considered the political implications. Now the Party tells me that they have already printed pamphlets about this to the general public, and it has had a serious impact. Even though I told them specifically not to reveal to the public what I had said; and even though the pamphlet had added to and exaggerated what I had said by several times, the person who is directly responsible for the pamphlet should be me.

My conversation with Comrade Gao Shan

On May 22nd, the office of Party Commission had a meeting. Gao Shan reported that he had participated in the declaration of the Office of Research for Economic Reform (ORER). The party director Comrade Chen Qunlin reported to me. I then had a talk with Gao Shan and asked: "Why did you go to ORER to make trouble?" He said, "Yes I did, and I was wrong to have done so." I said, "You are bringing trouble for me." He replied, "I did it myself; only I should bear the responsibility." I said, "Now that you have gone there, the ORER knows that you participated and you also reported this to the office party commission. Even I learned about it. It is all over. Other people will say that the Office of Research for Political Reform participated in the declaration, that Bao Tong participated, and finally it will mean more trouble for Comrade Ziyang."

I was completely clean, but now there was this mess. It should be stated that Gao Shan, who reported his actions to the party commission on the 22nd, had the right attitude. It was I who started the conversation that did not observe principles and was extremely slack. I failed to ask him what he had said when he was at the ORER, and did not ask to what degree he had participated; I did not ask about the content of the declaration, and what impact there was in the public domain. What I cared about was whether or not it would bring trouble for me.

It needs to be clarified here: I learned the actual contents of the declaration only from Comrade Chen Xitong's report in the paper while I was in Qincheng Prison. Up to then, I had only known that there was a declaration; I thought it a very common thing. I saw Gao Shan's participation in the declaration to be of the same severity as if he had participated in the demonstrations. I never treated the action itself as a serious political matter.

The last thing I assisted Comrade Ziyang with was a draft for a speech.

In the morning of May 24th, Comrade Ziyang spoke to Comrade Zhang Yueqi and I, and told us he needed to draft a speech. He said, "I don't know when the Politburo Standing Committee will have a meeting, but when they do, they will criticize me. They will also ask some questions and demand answers from me. Why don't you help me to start a draft - it doesn't matter if it not finalized. If the meeting is held soon, I will be better prepared; if the meeting is not held right away, I can keep the draft and revise it later." At that time, Comrade Ziyang also expressed some of his opinions and considerations beginning from the memorial activities of Hu Yaobang to his resignation. There were also some other draft materials. I wrote my draft that evening and asked Comrade Zhang Yueqi to send the draft to Comrade Ziyang. This is the last thing I did for Comrade Ziyang. Since then, I have never seen him again.

I did not report this when my investigation started,since I did not know if he finally used the draft or not. Therefore, I only reported this when the party asked me specifically if I had drafted any documents for Comrade Ziyang after May 22nd.

I did ask a comrade to inform Comrade Du Runsheng if I were to be detained for investigation. However, Comrade Du Runsheng and I had absolutely no illegitimate association or political activities.

The following is what happened on May 26th or 27th. In early May, I had repeatedly heard rumors from the public that I had been meddling in the affairs of the student demonstrations. At the time, I laughed and did not take them seriously at all. When Comrade Li Peng accused me of leaking state secrets on May 17th, I started getting nervous. On May 20th, when Beijing Hospital told my secretary, "Bao Tong will no longer be assigned here for check-ups," I felt actual pressure; I thought I was being fired. Later on, I heard rumors in Beijing that there was a "Gang-of-Four" including Zhao Ziyang, Du Runsheng, An Zhiwen and Bao Tong. There was also mention of a "Bao Tong Anti-party Group" in a Hong Kong Newspaper. I therefore had a feeling that I was about to be arrested or was going to be investigated. I thought, if such a thing happened, I should let Comrade Du know (Comrade An Zhiwen was not in Beijing). In my office, only Gao Shan knew Comrade Du, so I was looking for Gao Shan on the 25th or the 26th, but he was nowhere to be found. I met a comrade (I now forget who it was), and told him I had a feeling that something was going to happen to me, and that if anything happened, to please ask Gao Shan to let Du know.

My thinking at the time was very simple: Zhao, Du, An and I were all innocent. We were all connected in one case, and we all felt wrongly accused along with each other. Even though I did not know Comrade Du very well, I felt emotionally closer to him given the situation. If anything happened to me, I should let Comrade Du know. I had great respect for Comrade Du before, but I had no personal relationship with him. There were only two personal contacts with him: once was on the evening of April 28th or 29th: the April 27th student demonstrations had made me extremely worried, and Comrade Ziyang was in North Korea. I called Comrade Du, and said I would like to visit him at his home. (On the phone) I said I would go over, but he said he would come instead (we lived very close, in two adjacent buildings). Finally he came to my house. I told him that I was extremely worried about what I had heard about the situation of the student demonstrations on April 27th. I found he was also worried about it. I asked him about his opinion on what concrete measures could be taken to calm the situation. He said it was difficult - a big problem. He spent about half an hour in my house, and I then sent him home. Because he had come to my house that time, I felt a little guilty, so I especially paid him a visit on May 2nd. This is the second time we had any contact. I spent only a few minutes to wish him a happy holiday, and having felt that I had paid my respects, I then left. There was no illegitimate association or activities of any kind between Comrade Du and I.

Last three clarifications