Tiananmen Memoirs Published

Just before the 20th anniversary of the massacre at Tiananmen Square, the memoirs of General Secretary Zhao Ziyang have been published in English in Hong Kong. Zhao was opposed to the brutal crackdown on demonstrators and after the massacre, he was fired and placed under house arrest until his death in 2005. The memoirs detail the discussions that took place within the party before the massacre.

Those that have seen the book said Mr Zhao denounced the killing of protesters on 3-4 June 1989 as a "tragedy".

"On the night of 3 June, while sitting in the courtyard with my family, I heard intense gunfire. A tragedy to shock the world had not been averted," he said, according to Reuters news agency.

In the book Mr Zhao, who wanted China to embark on far-reaching political reforms, praised Western-style democracy.

"If we don't move toward this goal, it will be impossible to resolve the abnormal conditions in China's market economy," he wrote.

Mr Zhao's former secretary, Bao Tong, said he was behind the scheme to publish his former boss's memoirs.

Mr Bao spent seven years in prison because of his involvement in the Tiananmen incident and is still under house arrest in Beijing.

"I planned both the Chinese and English versions of the book," he told the BBC.

"If China's legal bodies want to find someone responsible, they ought to come after me."