User:Colipon/Li Peng meeting

On May 18, 1989, Premier Li Peng, in his capacity as the leader of the Chinese government, met with protesting student leaders during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The meeting was shown on the CCTV program Xinwen Lianbo that evening. It was the only meeting the Premier held with students during the course of the protests.

Proceedings
Government leaders in attendance were Premier Li Peng, Minister of the State Education Commission Li Tieying, Head of the United Front Yan Mingfu, Beijing party chief Li Ximing and mayor Chen Xitong. Student leaders in attendance included Wu'erkaixi, Wang Dan, and Xiong Yan.

Wuerkaixi began the meeting by rebuking Li Peng for arriving too late. "You have just said that this meeting is a little late [...] we asked to meet with you as early as April 22. This meeting is not only a little late, but too late."

In quick succession a large number of student leaders spoke. Most pointed to the nature of the movement as "patriotic" and "democratic", and asked for the government to affirm it as such. Wang Xuezhen, head of the party branch at Peking University, affirmed statements by the students, stating unequivocally, "I believe that our students are patriotic. They hope to advance democracy in our country. [They] are not trying to create turmoil. I hope our government will affirm this point."

On behalf of the government, Li Tieying was the first to speak, and he laboured through bureaucratic jargon. He hinted that more will be done to create channels for dialogue between students and the government. He stressed stability and said that the effects of the movement's further spread cannot be predicted. He told students that institutions exist to channel grievances, such as the National People's Congress. Yan Mingfu affirmed the intentions of the students but warned that since student leaders no longer had control over the movement, elements within the demonstrators were preventing meaningful dialogue from taking place.

Beijing mayor Chen Xitong talked about adverse effect the protests had on economic activity in the city, saying that the traffic in Beijing was paralyzed and industrial production was severely disrupted.

Li Peng said that the government had a duty to "maintain order", and said that the majority of students are "patriotic" and "not causing turmoil". Li said that the government's foremost concern was that of students' health, but that the government opposed continued disruption of social order.