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| Date | 8th Feburary-9th Feburary 1992 | ||||||||||
| Location | Peking, North China | ||||||||||
| Result | Hardliners' Victory • Dissolution of China SFSR and Supreme Soviet. Establishment of the authoritarian People's Republic of China (PRC) ruled by the People's Party of China • Martial Law declared in North China • Reformist leader Zhao Ziyang killed; other pro-democracy and reformist leaders captured or executed • 12 million people fled to Korea, Russia, Mongolia, South China, and Vietnam • 1 million people sent to internment camps • International sanctions against the PRC regime • Resistance against the PRC regime continued till today | ||||||||||
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The 1992 North China coup d'état, also known as the North Chinese Civil War or the Peking Massacre, was a military conflict between the reformists and hardliners of the North Chinese Communist Party (NCCP) on 8 February 1992. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Chinese Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (China SFSR) voted on 3 February 1992 to enter into a gradual reunification process with the Republic of China (ROC). The coup prevented the ratification of the radical reforms bills passed by the Supreme Soviet and resulted in the dissolution of the China SFSR and the establishment of the authoritarian People's Republic of China (PRC). This event remained the bloodiest coup d'état in history.
Conflict[]
Prelude[]
Following the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Chinese Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (China SFSR) was established in northern China as a constituent part of the Soviet Union.
Zhao Ziyang was the last President of China SFSR
Zhao Ziyang became the First Secretary of the NCCP and Chairman of the State Council (President) of China SFSR in 1987. A reformist and close ally of USSR leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Zhao launched a series of radical economic and political reforms in order to save the collapsing economy and alleviate public discontent with the communist regime. By 1991, the economic reforms had proven to be a tragic failure with GDP contracted over 21% in just 3 years while inflation reaching over 60% annually.
The political reform, on the other hand, seemed successful. In August 1990, the first free and fair multi-party legislative election was held with the pro-democratic camp (including NCCP reformists) won a landslide. However, the hardliners, led by Yang Shangkun—the Second Secretary of the NCCP and Chairman of the Council of Ministers—still asserted signfiicant control over the remnants of the Soviet Army in North China.
Tipping point[]
Tensions between the hardliner (which managed to win 28% of the vote in the 1990 election) and the pro-democratic camp (which dominated the democratically-elected Supreme Soviet) reached a boiling point in 1992. However, the Supreme Soviet failed to pass major reforms and was plagued by gridlock since the pro-democratic camp did not have the supermajority (67%) required to adopt constitutional changes, dissolving the military or appointing a cabinet of their choice.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union In December 1991, North Chinese economy collapsed in early 1992, with unemployment reaching a staggering 30% and nearly 1 million North Chinese population died due to extreme starvation.
Yang Shangkun openly criticized and called for the removal of Zhao Ziyang during the February 3rd session of the Supreme Soviet
Supreme Soviet of China SFSR
On February 3rd 1992, during a session of the Supreme Soviet, the leader of the hardliner camp Yang Shangkun openly criticized supreme leader Zhao Ziyang's economic liberalization policies as being responsible for the economic catastrophe, claiming that Zhao was a traitor and murderer that should be overthrown. Yang then proposed a motion of no confidence against Zhao in the Supreme Soviet, but the legislature rejected his motion and instead condemned Yang Shangkun as a power-hungry authoritarian opportunist.
During the same session that day of the Supreme Soviet, an WPC legislator proposed to impeach Yang Shangkun for his abuse of power, violation of constitution and supporting hardline soviet coup. A Kuomintang legislator then proposed a bill to dissolve North China and reunite with South China in order to revive the collapsing economy.
Reformist/Democrat camp: 719
For the first bill, all pro-democracy and reformist legislators voted in favor while 41 NCCP hardliners "boycotted" the vote. The motion met the two-thirds supermajority requirement (excluding the abstained votes) to remove a sitting premier. It is believed that the boycott of 41 hardliners was actually against party line since it allowed for a smaller quorum required for a supermajority. It is unclear whether the boycott was motivated by their personal grievances against Yang or actually implicit sympathy for the pro-democracy camp.
For the second bill, 144 reformists/democrats who did not support immediate unification with South China chose to abstain instead of voting against in order not to break the unity of camp. All NCCP hardliners voted against the motion, including the 41 who voted against party line in the first bill. The second bill does not meet the two-thirds majority threshold that is required to adopt constitutional changes and was defeated.
As a compromise, an NCCP reformist legislator proposed a third bill to establish "a Monetary, Economic and Social Union" between the Chinese SFSR and the Republic of China, which would facilitate economic integration and freedom of movements with South China, tantamounting to a "gradual reunification" with the south. All NCCP Hardliners voted against the bill while 90 reformists/democrats abstained from voting. The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet ruled that the motion was not a constitutional change and therefore it was passed with a simple majority.
| Bill S.S. 570: Do you agree that Comrade Yang Shangkun should be removed from his position as Chairman of the Council of Ministers? | ||
|---|---|---|
| For: 719 | Against: 240 | Abstention/Absent: 41 |
| Bill S.S. 571: Do you agree that the Chinese Soviet Federal Socialist Republic (Chinese SFSR or North China) should be dissolved. and that it should petition to join the Republic of China (ROC or South China)? | ||
| For: 575 | Against: 281 | Abstention/Absent: 144 |
| Bill S.S. 572: Do you agree that the Chinese SFSR should enter into a Monetary, Economic and Social Union with the Republic of China? | ||
| For: 629 | Against: 281 | Abstention/Absent: 90 |
Due to the start of the Chinese New Years holiday on the following day (February 4 - February 7), the two passed bills were supposed to be signed into laws by President Zhao Ziyang and go into effect on February 8th, 1992.
Start of the Coup[]
The above two bills greatly provoked Yang Shangkun. Under the pretext of “national salvation and normalisation," Yang ordered his allies and loyalists in the Chinese Soviet Army to launch a coordinated attack on the Supreme Soviet on February 8th to prevent the signing of the bills by President Zhao Ziyang.
At 8:12 AM, during the signing ceremony of the two bills, Yang’s forces bombed the Legislature Building located in suburban Peking, killing half of the legislators of the Supreme Soviet. Zhao Ziyang was severely wounded (eventually died two hours after the attack) and was brought back by pro-Zhao Secret Service to the Zhongnanhai Presidential Residence in central Peking along with other survivors.
The Tank Man standing in opposition to the advance of Zhao's tanks towards the Zhongnanhai Presidential Residence
At 9:30 AM, Yang's forces occupied the Voice of China (VOC) Radio Station. He declared martial law, and announced himself as the Leader of the Provisional Government of North China. About 1 million people in Peking took to the street to protest against the coup and try to halt the advance of Yang’s forces towards the capital’s central districts. Over 350,000 civilians formed a human chain to protect the Zhongnanhai Presidential Residence in the Forbidden City in central Peking, where Zhao Ziyang and other pro-democracy camp leaders were seeking refuge.
At about 2:00 PM, Yang's forces arrived in central Peking. He ordered his troops to clear the crowd by firing indiscriminately on unarmed protestors. In an event known as the “Peking Massacre”, over 90,000 people are killed (according to North China's official tally); however, the real figure could be much higher (~280,000 deaths according to an FBI estimate). Pro-Zhao forces, including the Peking Capital Police and the Soviet Army's Peking Theater Command, supplemented Peking citizens with weapons. As a result, Yang's army advance towards the Zhongnanhai Presidential Residence was temporarily halted, but fierce street-to-street fighting continued into the late evening. North China had sunk into the biggest military and political crisis since the Chinese Civil War of the 1940s and 1950s.
Yang's troops opened fire on cilivians
People around the world, especially those in neighboring South China that have friends and relatives in the North, watched the events unfold live on television with deep concerns. The Republic of China (South China) initially planned to send troops to North China to assist Zhao's forces, but was warned by the CIA that Yang's army still retained control of at least 200 nuclear warheads, contrary to popular belief that North China had given up all of its nuclear weapons to the Russian Federation after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Fall of Peking[]
The Zhongnanhai Presidential Palace was bombed and burned to the ground by Zhao's Army
After nearly 12 hours of fierce fighting, pro-Zhao citizen forces were defeated. By midnight of February 8th 1992, the tanks of Yang’s forces headed towards the Zhongnanhai Presidential Residence and opened fire on the building. The surviving legislators and Cabinet members, including Hu Qili—the highest-ranking survivor of the Supreme Soviet who was declared Acting President of China SFSR briefly after Zhao's death—surrendered to Yang’s army at 12:30 am.
At 12:35 am, the flag of North China SFSR on top of the flag pole in the Forbidden City was taken down, torn apart, and replaced by the Five-star Red Flag of pro-Yang faction.
Aftermath[]
At 1:00 am on Feburary 9th, 1992, China SFSR Acting President Hu Qili was taken by Yang’s forces to the North China Central Television (NCCTV). With a thinly veiled gun pointing to his head on live television, Hu was forced to order the remaning protestors and pro-Zhao army forces to surrender unconditionally and accept Yang’s "benevolent leadership”, calling for national reconciliation. He was reportedly shot dead off-screen right after he finished the scripted speech. Yang Shangkun then stepped in and announced that China SFSR would be reorganized into the People's Republic of China (PRC), a new authoritarian one-party government led by the People's Party of China (PPC), which consisted of pro-autocracy and anti-democracy members of the former NCCP.
A sham election was organized on February 26th, 1992, with the PPC winning 99.5% of the vote. Voter turnout was reported to be 100% by the PPC, although other sources such as Freedom House listed the actual voter turnout at less than 20%. On the following day, Yang Shangkun was elected as the first Supreme Leader of the PRC by the National People's Congress, the new legislature of the PRC.
Fearful of political oppression and prosecution, former officials and legislators of the former China SFSR as well as 12 million North Chinese citizens fled to neighboring countries such as Mongolia, Russian Federation, South China, Korea, and Vietnam, creating a refugee crisis.
The massacre was condemned worldwide. Yang Shangkun remained wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes (for starting the coup) and crime against humanity (for overthrowing a legitimate, democratically elected government and mass-killings of innocent people). From 1992 to 2002, the United Nations Security Council placed the new PRC regime under international sanctions. The new country remained a pariah in the international stage, and the country's current PRC government is still unrecognized by most countries in the world. At the United Nations, North China is still referred to as "the Former Chinese Soviet Federative Socialist Republic" instead of the new regime's name. The PRC have official embassies in only 18 countries, although it maintained de facto embassies with many countries through the Peking Economic and Cultural Offices (PECO).
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