'Tiananmen' edition may cause China ructions

Perry Link, holding the English version of 'The Tiananmen Papers', is the co-editor of the book

By CNN's Rose Tang

HONG KONG, China -- Publication of the Chinese edition of "The Tiananmen Papers" could cause a power struggle among China's leaders, according to the publisher of the book.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has branded publication of the Chinese edition a plot to “create chaos in China”.

“It will be useless for anyone who want to plot to create chaos in China by fabricating material that distorts the truth, and speculates on such matters,” ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told reporters in Beijing on Thursday.

The 1,000-page book appears to portray how top Chinese political leaders came to decide to crack down on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

The English edition, which was denounced by China’s Foreign Ministry as “sheer fabrication”, was published in January.

The book’s author, who uses the pseudonym Zhang Liang, says the book was based on thousands of secret documents he smuggled to the United States a few years ago.

In a written statement released by the New York-based publisher Mirro Books, Zhang says the book contains records of telephone conversations, meetings, faxes, telegrams, and speeches that involved more than 683 people inside and outside China.

Mirror Books publisher Ho Pin told CNN that publication could lead to various factions of the Chinese Communist Party questioning the actions of President Jiang Zemin and National People's Congress Chairman Li Peng.

“The legitimacy of the leadership of Jiang and Li will be challenged, as they gained their power from the crackdown,” Ho said.

The Chinese version of the book will be on sale from Sunday in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, North America and Europe.

The date coincides with the twelth anniversary of the death of Communist Party Secretary Hu Yaobang in 1989, which sparked the pro-democracy movement.

The Chinese government has been tightening control at airports and border points to stop the book being brought in, according to analysts based in Hong Kong and Beijing.

Ho, a former journalist who covered the movement in Beijing in 1989, said the book contained “the most comprehensive official records of the most heroic and tragic event in modern Chinese history.”

“For the first time since 1949, official Chinese records have been released via unofficial channels outside China, without the participation or consent of the Chinese government,” he said from New York.

There have been debates about the authenticity of the documents since the English edition was published.

No pictures or copies of the documents have been made available, nor has Zhang appeared in public.

In his written statement, Zhang says many top Chinese leaders in Beijing have had their phone tapped by secret police.

“The era of high pressure in Chinese society and political terror inside the party is coming,” Zhang said.

Ho said Beijing convened a mass meeting of 2,000 leaders from the party, the government and the military two months ago to discuss the publication of the book.

“This is unprecedented,” he said. “It shows the horrendous power struggle inside the party is beyond the imagination of the outside world.”

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Tiananmen: The Gate of Heavenly Peace
Mirror Books

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