By
The Associated Press
BEIJING - China's foreign minister yesterday denounced as "sheer fabrications" documents published in the United States that portray Chinese leaders as fighting over how to handle 1989 pro-democracy protests.
Tang Jiaxuan issued China's highest-level attack yet on "The Tiananmen Papers," a book published in January and said to be based on records smuggled out of China by a disaffected civil servant.
The documents, Tang said, are "sheer fabrications intentionally engineered by some people out of very vicious political motives."
"Anybody is doomed to failure who attempts through vicious means of made-up stories and rumors to reach their ulterior political motives," he said.
"The Tiananmen Papers" portrays a Communist Party elite, led by the late Deng Xiaoping, as deeply divided over whether to negotiate with protesters or crush them.
The book's American translators say it is based on intelligence reports and records of meetings and phone conversations.
The protests centered on Tiananmen Square mobilized millions in the biggest popular challenge to communist rule.
The government ordered troops to end the protests, and hundreds - possibly thousands - of people were killed in the June 3-4, 1989, assault.
China has never provided a full account of the crackdown or credible figures for casualties and arrests.
Speaking in Beijing's Great Hall of the People, adjacent to Tiananmen Square, Tang reiterated the government defense of the crackdown as necessary to ensure political stability and economic development.
His comments, carried live on state television, would probably be the first mention many Chinese heard of "The Tiananmen Papers."
Chinese newspapers have not reported on the book, although news of it has entered the country via foreign radio and television broadcasts and the Internet.
Tang declined to say whether he read the book or whether it was discussed by the leadership.
Former officials say the book could re-ignite debate in China over the crackdown and the legitimacy of President Jiang Zemin.
Days before the crackdown, Jiang was appointed to replace Zhao Ziyang, who was unseated in a power struggle and remains under a form of house arrest.
