LIVE ammunition was used against thousands of unarmed student protesters, several hundred innocent lives were taken in a horrific massacre that shocked the world.

And according to an Australian senator, it was “the right thing to do”.

Palmer United Party senator Dio Wang has come under fire for his endorsement of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, clearly stating he supported the Chinese military’s actions in the government-led attack.

In an interview with the Australian Financial Review published two days after the 26th anniversary of the massacre, the Chinese-born West Australian senator defended the mass killing.

“Based on the information I have, I think the government did the right thing,” he said.

“Obviously when criminals and students get mixed up, you can’t really identify each one of them. So when there was force to be deployed you may get innocent casualties.”

Mr Wang went on to say if the infamous attack did not eventuate, China “would have descended into hell”.

The comments have been met with shock from human rights groups and politicians.

Amnesty International was dismayed to hear Senator Wang’s attempt to justify the Chinese government’s brutal actions, a spokeswoman told news.com.au.

“In the 26 years since the Tiananmen Square massacre, the Chinese government has gone to great to lengths to suppress even the mention of the shocking and brutal crackdown on civilians,” Karen Trentini said.

“China has a long way to go in addressing the injustices that happened, but the first step is to acknowledge the facts.”

Human Rights Watch Australia director Elaine Pearson slammed the comments as “appalling” and “an affront to the families who are still seeking justice”.

“The comments appear to parrot the Chinese government’s official line on Tiananmen — for years, the Chinese government have tried to simply expunge Tiananmen from the history books. It is shocking to claim that violent repression of peaceful protests resulting in hundreds of deaths was ‘the right thing to do’,” she told news.com.au.

“Twenty six years after the Tiananmen Massacre, Chinese people still bear the brunt of repressive policies and risk jail for criticism of the government or participating in protests. The continued failure of the Chinese government to advance basic freedoms has wideranging implications for China today, fuelling a myriad of social problems from corruption to pollution.”

The senator’s reaction was completely at odds with Australia’s response to the massacre at the time.

Then prime minister Bob Hawke openly wept at a memorial service for those killed in Tiananmen, and announced no Chinese student in Australia would be forced to return home.

“To crush the spirit and the body of youth is to crush the very future of China itself,” he said.

Labor leader Bill Shorten yesterday rejected the senator’s view, the AFR reports.

“It is 26 years since thousands of young people demonstrating in favour of great freedom were silenced,” Mr Shorten said.

“Many people lost their lives. It was a tragedy.”