
A senior Chinese official said it was 'a correct policy' for Beijing to kill unarmed students during a pro-democracy protest in 1989 because of the great changes the country has experienced since then.

Commenting on the controversial crackdown, known as June the Fourth in China, Beijing's defence minister said: 'In the past 30 years, China has gone through tremendous changes under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.'

He added: 'How can you say our handling of June the Fourth was not right?'

‹ Slide me › 1989 and 2019: Beijing Tiananmen Square, the political heart of China, is seen during the crackdown three decades ago and now. A Chinese official yesterday said it was 'correct' for Beijing to crack down on pro-democracy protesters 30 years ago

‹ Slide me › Then and now: 'In the past 30 years, China has gone through tremendous changes under the leadership of the Communist Party of China. How can you say our handling of June the Fourth was not right?' Beijing's defence minister Wei Fenghe said

‹ Slide me › Hundreds, or by some estimates more than a 1,000, unarmed civilians were killed when troops and tanks were deployed to extinguish the demonstrations in Beijing on June 4, 1989. General Wei Fenghe yesterday said Beijing took 'decisive measures'

The minister, General Wei Fenghe, also said: 'There is a conclusion on June the Fourth. It was a political dispute, a political upheaval.

'The central government took decisive measures. The troops took measures to prevent and stop the upheaval. This is a correct policy.'

General Wei was speaking at a regional security forum in Singapore on Sunday ahead of the 30th anniversary of the military crackdown.

Hundreds, or by some estimates more than a 1,000, unarmed civilians were killed when troops and tanks were deployed to extinguish the demonstrations in Beijing on June 4, 1989.

Thirty years on, the tanks that lined Beijing's central avenue have been replaced by countless surveillance cameras perched like hawks on lampposts to keep the population in check.

‹ Slide me › 'As a vaccination for the Chinese society, the Tiananmen incident will greatly increase China's immunity against any major political turmoil in the future,' wrote Chinese state newspaper the Global Times in a rare commentary on the event

‹ Slide me › The Tiananmen crackdown, known as June the Fourth in China, is the most censored topic by the ruling Communist Party who bills the young participants as anti-government rioters misled by Western ideologies and aiming to overthrow their regime

In this June 5, 1989 file photo, Chinese troops and tanks gather in Beijing, one day after the military crackdown that ended a seven week pro-democracy demonstration on Tiananmen Square. Hundreds were killed in the early morning hours of June 4

A young woman is caught between civilians and Chinese soldiers, who were trying to remove her from an assembly near the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in this photo taken on June 3, 1989.

General Wei's speech echoed a commentary on a Chinese state-run newspaper, which claimed the Tiananmen protest 'immunised China against turmoil'.

In a rare editorial, the Global Times hailed the Chinese government's handling of what it called the 'incident'.

'As a vaccination for the Chinese society, the Tiananmen incident will greatly increase China's immunity against any major political turmoil in the future,' wrote the nationalist tabloid, which is affiliated with the Communist Party's mouthpiece, the People's Daily.

The Tiananmen crackdown is the most censored topic by China's ruling Communist Party who bills the young participants as anti-government rioters misled by Western ideologies and aiming to overthrow their regime.

The bloodbath has been immortalised by the above picture called the 'Tank Man', which shows a student holding bags of grocers standing in front of a row of tanks to protest at the clampdown by the armies against its own people. The picture was taken by photographer Jeff Widener of the Associated Press from a sixth-floor balcony of the Beijing Hotel near Tiananmen

On June 4, 1989, Chinese tanks and soldiers sent by the Communist Party leadership crushed the student-led movement, which had been going on for weeks, in the centre of Beijing. They killed hundreds, and by some estimates more than 1,000

'Thirty years after the Tiananmen Massacre, Chinese authorities have not acknowledged the atrocity or provided justice for the victims and their families,' said Yaqiu Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch while commenting on the event

It is rare for Chinese officials or media to publicly discuss the strictly taboo topic. Authorities have detained activists and tightened online censorship ahead of the anniversary.

The party's 'control of the incident' in 1989 had been a 'watershed' that marked the difference between China's rapid economic progress and the fate of other communist countries such as the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia that disintegrated, the Global Times said.

It added that today's China, with its growing wealth, has 'no political conditions' that could reignite 'the riot' seen three decades ago.

'Chinese society, including its political elite, is now far more mature than in 1989,' it wrote.

The editorial - which only appeared in the English-language print and online edition of the paper - also rebuked dissidents, Western politicians and media, saying their criticism of the event would have 'no real impact' on Chinese society.

A Chinese paramilitary policeman stands guard in front of a portrait of China's late leader Mao Zedong at Tiananmen Square

A man buys water from a food truck at Tiananmen square in Beijing on April 9, 2019. China's defence minister said it was 'correct' for Beijing to kill unarmed students because the country has made 'tremendous changes' as a result

A tourist takes pictures during the flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen square in Beijing. China has never released an official death toll of the bloody event while human rights organisations have urged the Communist Party to take responsibilities

Tourists arrive for the flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen square in Beijing. Tiananmen Square is a popular scenic spot

Beijing has never released an official death toll of the bloody event.

Multiple Human rights organisations have urged the Chinese government to step up and take responsibilities of the 'massacre'.

'Thirty years after the Tiananmen Massacre, Chinese authorities have not acknowledged the atrocity or provided justice for the victims and their families,' said Yaqiu Wang, China researcher at Human Rights Watch.

'The whitewash of Tiananmen and heightened repression across China have fueled activists' determination to fight for human rights.'

A group of Chinese mothers who lost their loved ones during June the Fourth have urged Beijing to give them an explanation for more than 20 years.

Chinese mothers whose children were killed during the 1989 Tian'anmen Square crackdown are pictured gathering at a secret meeting in March to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the event. The group consists of 127 members

A banner with pictures of the young protesters killed during the bloodbath is hung at the meeting as their mothers try to heal their wounds. Beijing has never released an official death toll as a result of the event and any discussion of it is prohibited

The group was founded in 1995 by two mothers whose children were killed on that fateful day. Over the years, more and more people with similar experience found them and they meet regularly to pay tribute to their love ones and compatriots

The group, who call themselves the 'Tiananmen Mothers' risked their lives and commemorated the 30th anniversary of the crackdown in a secret meeting in March.

'In defying the government-enforced amnesia to document the truth of June Fourth, unearth evidence that the Chinese authorities try to bury, and insist on justice for those killed, the Tiananmen Mothers are a beacon and the conscience of Chinese civil society,' Mi Ling Tsui, a spokesperson of New York-based Human Rights in China, told MailOnline.

The Communist Party has tightened its grip on civil society since President Xi Jinping took office in 2012, detaining activists and rights lawyers, intensifying online censorship, and using high-tech policing to keep the population in check.

'The spirit of the Tiananmen movement continues to burn in the hearts of veterans of 1989 and younger generations of activists who fight for a more just China,' Wang from Human Rights Watch said in a press release.

'President Xi Jinping should acknowledge, even in the face of extraordinary persecution, that demands for accountability and human rights remain strong.'

See a timeline of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989 here.