HONG KONG — A Hong Kong publisher said Sunday that he has scrapped plans to publish an insider account of Beijing’s decision-making behind its 1989 crackdown on prodemocracy student protesters in Tiananmen Square because of copyright problems.
Bao Pu said he had planned to release the purported memoir of former Premier Li Peng in the former British colony on Tuesday, but stopped the print run of 20,000 copies Friday.
“Relevant institutions have produced new information about the copyright holder. We have no choice but to stop right now,” he said, declining to elaborate.
The Chinese government has not commented on the authenticity of the book since excerpts were provided to the media on June 4, the 21st anniversary of the crackdown.
If authenticated, the manuscript would be one of the few accounts of high-level discussions on how to handle the demonstrations. In the purported memoir, Li claims armed rioters opened fire first at Chinese troops, forcing them to return fire in self-defense.
Front Section, Pages 4 on 06/21/2010