Video shows Gen Xu Qinxian explaining why he refused to deploy troops to crush 1989 student-led demonstrations
Rare footage of a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general who defied orders to lead his troops into Tiananmen Square and crush the 1989 student protesters has been leaked online, offering a highly unusual glimpse into the upper echelons of the military at one of the most fraught moments in modern Chinese history.
General Xu Qinxian’s refusal to take his troops from the PLA’s prestigious 38th Group Army, a unit based on the outskirts of Beijing, into the capital has been the stuff of Tiananmen lore for decades.
The six-hour video recording of Gen Xu’s court martial hearing the next year sheds light on the rare act of defiance. In the video, Xu said he refused because he did not want to become “a sinner in history”.
Disagree on the last part but rest is pretty good.
For context: AfD is the most popular party today in Germany. Their leader Alice weidel publicly praises the time of her grandfather while her grandfather was a member of NAZI party. Another high ranking member of AfD was recently caught doing a zeig heil in front of parliment building. In early 2023, they were caught attending a neo-nazi meetup.
And despite all that, they are today number 1 in polls. This doesn’t look very “reflecting on past mistakes” tbh.
Well it’s been that long that they went full circle again. I guess my age is showing (I’m a geriatric millennial). Until a decade ago, or maybe two, a successful AfD would have been unthinkable. Just goes to show how far off OPs comparison with Germany is.
Yeah