Telegram from Romanian Embassy in Beijing to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 04:15 am

04 June 1989, 04:15 am

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cde. Ioan Totu,
Eyes Only (personal)

Regarding the situation developing in China, we would like to inform you about the following exceptional events. Cde. Qin Jiwei, Defense Minister [of the PRC] re-appeared yesterday afternoon (03 June), after almost two weeks of absence. He had disappeared from the public eye at the same time with Secretary General Zhao Ziyang and another five comrades from [the party] leadership. Qin Jiwei, Zhao Ziyang, Hu Qili and of the members of the CCP leadership were accused of having anti-socialist views and working in the service of the imperialist powers (see document from 3 June). We were informed that Cde. Qin Jiwei had been under house arrest until the situation in the leadership of the party was clarified. We have also been informed that he had a discussion with Cde. President Deng Xiaoping, and regained his trust in leading the daily operation of the armed forces. Immediately after the meeting [with Deng Xiaoping] (yesterday afternoon) Cde. Qin Jiwei inspected the armed forces around Beijing, giving a speech in which he reiterated that the role of the army is to execute the orders of the leadership of the [CCP] military commission, strongly criticizing those who failed in their duty. There are rumors that some commanders of major units and units of the army have been changed [with insubordination]. The military units around Beijing took major and forceful actions to enforce the orders given on the basis of martial law.

(ss) [Ambassador] Angelo Miculescu