Beijing:
Former Chinese premier Li Peng acted on orders from late leader Deng Xiaoping to "shed some blood" when he sent in troops to end the Tiananmen protests, the publisher of Li's purported diary said on Monday.
Excerpts from the diary by Li, known as the "Butcher of Beijing", have caused an Internet stir for shedding rare light on the decision-making leading up to the bloodshed on the square on the night of June 3-4, 1989.
They show Li followed Deng's orders in clearing Tiananmen Square after six weeks of unprecedented pro-democracy protests.
"The diary clearly indicates that Deng Xiaoping had a major role... and that he wanted to use the military from the very beginning," Bao Pu, whose Hong Kong-based New Century
Press will publish the diary June 22, told AFP.
"The diary doesn't support the popular view that Deng came to a painful decision, that Deng was somehow misled," Bao said, adding the memoirs appeared genuine.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people were killed in central Beijing when the military violently crushed the student-led protests.
In the diaries, Li, who is 81 and reportedly in poor health, argues that the protests had to be extinguished to save the country from chaos.
"The unrest now in Beijing is the biggest chaos since the nation was established," Li writes in a June 1 excerpt seen from an Internet posting.
"The loss of control in this situation has gone beyond the 'Great Cultural Revolution'," he said, referring to the 1966-1976 radical political campaigns triggered by late leader Mao Zedong.
In the diary, Li seeks to mediate a political solution to end the protests, while overseeing the covert massing of 25,000 troops in buildings around the square -- "a force surrounding Tiananmen on all four sides".
He also regularly reports to Deng on the day-to-day updates, seeking approval for his moves.
The diary echoed an account by Zhao Ziyang -- who was ousted by Deng as Communist Party head for opposing the use of force -- published posthumously last year, he said. Bao also published that account.
The diary, covering April 15 to June 24 of 1989, was also consistent with the Tiananmen Papers, a set of leaked documents covering secretive Communist Party meetings, often
led by Deng, ahead of June 4.
These latest memoirs looked unlikely to help Li shed his "Butcher of Beijing" nickname, said Bao, who is the son of Bao Tong, a former top aide to Zhao. "I'm not sure this will help his image," Bao said.