HONG KONG, June 4 (UPI) -- A diary said to be that of the man blamed by many for the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing will be published in Hong Kong, observers say.
Outlining events surrounding the killing of pro-democracy protesters in the square, publishers say it is the work of Li Peng, the Communist Party leader who ordered martial law in Beijing as troops moved into the city, the BBC reported Friday.
In the diary, to be published on the 21st anniversary of the massacre, Li wrote he was willing to die to stop the pro-democracy protests, the BBC said.
Li is now 81 and reportedly in poor health.
Bao Pu, whose father was a senior adviser in the Communist Party at the time of the protests, heads the publishing project.
The diary "provides amazing details of how decisions were made and how the order was carried out, and how the leaders reached internal consensus," Bao said.
Bao said the diary was given to him, but would not say by whom or how, the BBC reported.
There are questions about the diary's authenticity, Bao admits, and it was given to experts to examine.
"Even with those remaining doubts," Bao said, "I still believe this is authentic, given the details and how consistent they are with other known records."
