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CHINA | S05 Bonus episode - The story behind Bob Hawke’s mysterious Tiananmen Cable

In 1989, five days after tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square in Beijing and brutally ended weeks of protests, the then prime minister Bob Hawke gave a horrifying description of what Australia thought happened. But where did the account come from? And what did it get wrong? Over the past three months China, If You're Listening investigated the source of this description and found it was a previously undisclosed diplomatic cable from the Australian Embassy in Beijing, which subsequently had key details retracted. This is a bonus episode, produced with our friends at The Signal — a daily ABC News podcast.

English
  • Originally Aired June 11, 2021
  • Runtime 17 minutes
  • Content Rating Australia M
  • Notes Is a season finale
  • Created April 7, 2025 by
    randomdaveqww
  • Modified April 7, 2025 by
    randomdaveqww