NEWS AND ANALYSIS:
The Chinese Communist Party on Thursday will mark the 37th anniversary of its use of military force in the massacre of thousands of unarmed pro-democracy protesters in Beijing.
Commemorating the event is a new report by the Air Force China Aerospace Studies Institute that reveals the Chinese Communist Party’s new disinformation narrative seeks to “flip the script” on what happened during the military attack on civilians on June 4, 1989.
No longer seeking to erase all memory of the killings, the new propaganda effort attempts portray the political mass murders as heroic work by People’s Liberation Army troops.
“Instead of suppressing memory through censorship, [the CCP] has now undertaken an effort to reimagine the events altogether,” the report said.
Beginning in 2022, the CCP started promoting propaganda images that seek to show PLA troops as “the real heroes of Tiananmen,” the report said.
“The protesters are not only labeled ’counter-revolutionaries,’ but now they are also ’terrorists.’ It was the PLA soldiers who ’sacrificed’ to save the country from these enemies of the nation,” the report said.
The new propaganda campaign reflects greater confidence by the CCP that decades of censorship and disinformation about the events in 1989 produced a blank slate in public consciousness that can now be filled with the new narrative.
The new CCP narrative calls for never forgetting what the report said is a false version of events. The report includes a copy of a propaganda poster showing a saluting PLA soldier atop a tank under the phrase, “We salute the sacrifices of the People’s Liberation Soldiers during the counter-revolutionary rebellion of 1989.”
The image includes white doves flying with olive sprigs over the tank, signaling the soldier had worked to restore peace.
In a separate social media post, the CCP published the image of a monument to the “heroes of the revolution” marking the spot where pro-democracy protesters first gathered. The posting states: “Never forget the sacrifices of the PLA heroes who defended the country against terrorism during the June 4th Incident.”
The report concluded: “Despite the nearly four decades of intervening censorship and recent attempts to rewrite the narrative, the brutal response of the Chinese Communist Party against its own population’s efforts to have a greater say in their own governance will continue to inform international perspectives of the Party, the nature of the regime, and its willingness to commit atrocities to remain in power.”
Between April and June 1989, tens of thousands of students, workers and other Chinese, prompted by the death of a reformist communist leader, took over Beijing’s main Tiananmen Square to demand free speech and oppose CCP rule. At one point the protesters erected a statue similar to the Statue of Liberty, which they called “the goddess of democracy.”
On May 20, 1989, then-Chinese Premier Li Peng declared martial law, and PLA forces began mobilizing in preparation to forcibly clear the square.
Martial law, however, galvanized the protesters, who turned out in even larger numbers, prompting CCP leaders to view the protests as a mounting threat to party rule.
On June 4, PLA armored personnel carriers moved into the square, crushing unarmed protesters beneath the treads. Troops then fired automatic weapons into crowds of unarmed civilians.
Official Chinese government estimates put the death toll at 200 killed and 7,000 wounded.
However, declassified cables from Britain and other foreign governments estimated the loss of life to be as many 10,000 people killed, with many thousands wounded.
After the massacre, the CCP launched a decades-long propaganda and information warfare narrative to spin the events at Tiananmen.
The information operations were partially successful through a long-term campaign of suppression and censorship that sought to gradually erase the attack from popular memory.
Chinese media remains barred from mentioning June 4, which is also banned from school curricula, blocked from inclusion in textbooks and purged from all public commemoration.
The global suppression campaign has been largely successful and now extends to all Chinese artificial intelligence chatbots, which are rigorously trained to avoid all mention of Tiananmen.
“Anecdotal experiences of foreigners living in China often include stories about otherwise well-educated and informed Chinese people never having seen iconic Tiananmen-related images like ’tank man’ or the ’Goddess of Democracy’ and having very little knowledge about the 1989 protest movement other than ’something bad happened,’” the report said.
The tank man was a lone Chinese dissident who risked his life and stood in front of a line of tanks headed for Tiananmen Square in a bid to halt the operation. He was never identified by name.
Candlelight vigils are expected to be held around the world by those seeking to remember the bloody events of 1989 in Beijing.
Marco Rubio: Taiwan arms sale under review
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate hearing on Tuesday that the White House is reviewing a multibillion arms package for Taiwan.
Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, said during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that there is bipartisan support for selling weapons to Taiwan to deter China, a nation he called the most significant U.S. strategic threat.
Mr. Coons said Congress in January “pre-approved” a $14 billion package, but the State Department over the past six month has not formally approved the sale.
The arms package will include advanced missiles and missile interceptors that military leaders say is needed to bolster the island’s defense against growing threats from China.
Mr. Rubio said an $11 billion arms package was approved in December and was larger than all arms sold during the entire four years of the Biden administration.
“The other $14 billion is being reviewed. It’s under review. I think it’s been noted but it hasn’t been approved. It’s under review by the White House,” the secretary said.
President Trump said after last month’s summit in Beijing that he is considering holding off on arms sales to Taiwan in exchange for improved trade relations with China.
Beijing opposes the arms sales to what it regards as its chief rival.
“We want to see the status quo preserved as it is at this moment,” Mr. Rubio said. “It’s a very … delicate relationship to balance, but our policy on Taiwan is not changing.”
Mr. Coons said he is concerned over recent Chinese military aggression, including military operations around Taiwan, and Beijing’s aid to Iran.
He asked Mr. Rubio whether Mr. Trump, during meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping, agreed to link Taiwan arms sales to improved trade ties.
Mr. Rubio declined to discuss the internal discussions but said that was not the context that the president has discussed arms sales in the past.
China constantly raises Taiwan arms transfers in meetings with U.S. officials but that does not affect U.S. decisions, he said.
Mr. Trump will decide when and how the next arms sale will take place, he said.
The secretary of state, who is also the White House national security adviser, said Taiwan is a place that is strategically important to protect and to send a message to the world “if something were to happen to it.”
House panel wants information on CIA gold bar case
Rep. Rick Crawford, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has been briefed on the case of former CIA official David Rush, who worked in the science and technology directorate and is accused of falsifying his credentials to obtain work with the agency, a congressional aide said.
Mr. Rush was arrested May 20 by the FBI, and a search of his residence revealed he had obtained 303 gold bars and a large amount of currency estimated to be worth $40 million that he obtained from CIA for what an FBI affidavit said were “work-related expenses.”
“The House Intel Committee and Chairman Crawford have been kept updated on this case as things developed and continue to be kept updated,” the congressional aide said. “The committee has also requested answers to a series of questions pertaining to this situation from the CIA.”
The FBI said Mr. Rush was arrested after an internal CIA probe identified potential violations of law.
“CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred the information to the FBI for a law enforcement investigation,” the FBI said in a statement. “The FBI is working closely with our partners at the CIA and the Department of Justice as we continue to investigate this matter fully. We are committed to following the facts, ensuring accountability, and pursuing justice in accordance with the law.”
The case remains shrouded in secrecy, and there are indications its involves a foreign intelligence service.
Information about the case is contained in an eight-page FBI affidavit submitted to federal court in Virginia by FBI Special Agent Matthew T. Johnson.
Mr. Johnson works for the FBI’s Washington Field Office, where “I primarily investigate counterintelligence matters,” according to the affidavit.
His previous court filings included cases involving government employees who leaked classified information to a reporter and a friendly foreign government.
The filings indicate the agent’s work is focused on what the federal government calls “insider threats” — government employees with access to secrets.
According to the FBI affidavit, Mr. Rush enlisted in the Navy in 1997 and in 2004 used a fraudulent degree from Clemson University to be commissioned as an officer.
Mr. Rush was identified in the Navy as specializing in information technology with no details of the work.
An intelligence source said Mr. Rush was confronted by security personnel in his CIA office several weeks ago and escorted out of the agency headquarters.
Intelligence experts say Mr. Rush could not have easily obtained such a large amount of gold and currency and most likely was engaged in some type of clandestine operation, perhaps involving the recruitment of foreign agents.
High-value intelligence source recruits may have requested payment for information in gold, now valued at more than $4,500 per ounce.
Mr. Rush has not been formally charged. Court information states that he is suspected of “theft of public money.”
A detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria is scheduled for Friday.
• Contact Bill Gertz on X @BillGertz.
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