Tiananmen Article

Being the leader of the People’s Republic of China is not a piece of cake, and when events like the Incident happen, it makes my job even worse.
I understand the student’s plea for democracy as many socialist governments such as Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria had collapsed and they were certain that corruption was present within the system. But the truth is that our country is strong and will never collapse as a Communist state and corruption is something that has never and will never happen.
Internationally, my reputation is being lowered due to this Incident. The Soviet Union claims that 10,000 people are dead. That is outrageous and unacceptable as a figure as we had ceased fire right after negotiations. There were only a total of 241 deaths, including the heroic soldiers who had lost their lives to rampaging students.
This may be a black spot in my life, but I am known as a great Marxist, great Proletarian Revolutionary, statesman, military strategist, and diplomat not for this but rather for my success in economically opening China to allow trade and manufacturing. I have opened up the door to China for outsiders, have great relations with the USA and the Soviet Union, and have also signed the agreement to revert Hong Kong and Macau to Chinese sovereignty. But people do not see the great achievements I have made, instead, they find every little flaw in me and aggressively protest. To err is human, and may I say, I am quite human.
Although I have ordered the clearing of the Square, the sole reason I have done this is because the students have gone overboard. If somebody must be blamed, it should be the students because they are the root of their own deaths. Hopefully someday, people will begin to see the greater picture in my point of view.


- Deng Xiaoping