Hello everyone, welcome to “News Perspective,” I’m Li Xin.
Today’s Focus: U.S. Military Aid to Taiwan for 16th Time during Biden Administration! Song Binbin, who once received a red armband from Mao Zedong, Passed Away; Apologized: Cultural Revolution Was a Catastrophe!
On Tuesday (September 17), a U.S. Navy anti-submarine patrol aircraft once again flew over the sensitive airspace of the Taiwan Strait to demonstrate the U.S. government’s commitment to freedom and open international airspace. Chinese military aircraft urgently took off for “monitoring and alert.”
According to the U.S. military’s “Stars and Stripes” report, this is the first time in five months that a U.S. Navy patrol aircraft has flown over the Taiwan Strait. The U.S. Navy Seventh Fleet stated in a press release that this operation was carried out “in accordance with international law in the Taiwan Strait, defending the navigation rights and freedoms of all nations,” demonstrating “the United States’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” and that “the U.S. military has the right to fly and sail anywhere permitted by international law.”
After the U.S. Navy patrol aircraft passed through the Taiwan Strait, a spokesman for the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army on Tuesday accused the U.S. Navy patrol aircraft of flying over the Taiwan Strait and “publicly hyping it.” He said, “The Eastern Theater Command organized fighter jets to monitor and alert the U.S. aircraft passing through.”
China views the passage of Western military aircraft and warships through the Taiwan Strait as provocations and support for Taiwan.
On Monday, the U.S. State Department approved the latest arms sales to Taiwan, including aircraft and related equipment spare parts maintenance, return, and re-shipment, estimated to be worth $228 million. This is the 16th arms sale to Taiwan during President Joe Biden’s administration.
The Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed a highly welcoming statement to this announcement and thanked the U.S. government for continuing to fulfill its security commitments to Taiwan in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act and the “Six Assurances.”
In recent years, China’s gray zone intrusions into Taiwan have been intensifying, using tactics that do not lead to actual combat, such as using aerial balloons, drones, civilian vessels, and conducting regular patrols near Kinmen Island controlled by Taiwan, to test and pressure the Taiwanese military.
Taiwan is actively responding to China’s threats. According to Voice of America, recently, the Taiwan Marine Corps has returned to a long-term stationed position on Dongsha Island to respond to China’s frequent island seizure plans.
Dongsha Island is approximately 444 kilometers from the Port of Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan. After 2000, Taiwan withdrew its troops to demonstrate its determination to peacefully resolve disputes in the South China Sea. However, since 2019, China has frequently dispatched military aircraft to harass Taiwan’s airspace near Dongsha Island, and the following year, reports emerged of simulated island seizure exercises, prompting the Taiwan Marine Corps to return to Dongsha Island.
Analysts say that if China is determined to seize the island, it will not be difficult militarily. However, with Taiwanese troops stationed on the island, China should have some reservations. Because once shots are fired, it will escalate to a quasi-war or war, forcing the international community to intervene.
On September 16, Song Binbin, a prominent figure of the Cultural Revolution who was once received by former Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong and a Red Guard leader, passed away in the United States at the age of 77.
In August 1966, during the Cultural Revolution, the Red Guards’ violent attacks swept through Beijing, known as the bloody “Red August.” On August 5, the vice principal of the Beijing Normal University Affiliated Girls’ Middle School, Bian Zhongyun, was beaten to death by students, becoming the first educational worker to suffer in the Cultural Revolution. Song Binbin was one of the Red Guard leaders at the school at that time. Let’s take a look at the process of Bian Zhongyun’s death.
Before the Cultural Revolution, the Beijing Normal University Affiliated Girls’ Middle School was one of the key schools in Beijing, where many daughters of senior Chinese Communist Party officials studied. Including Mao Zedong’s two daughters, Li Min and Li Ne, Liu Shaoqi’s daughter Liu Tingting, Deng Xiaoping’s daughter Deng Rong, and Song Renqiong’s daughter Song Binbin. Before the start of the Cultural Revolution, the children of high-ranking officials accounted for half of the school’s population. This feature is directly related to the beating death of Bian Zhongyun. On August 5, 1966, when the Red Guards, who were her students, beat her to death, Bian Zhongyun, who was 50 years old, had been working at this school for 17 years. She was the first educational worker in Beijing to be killed during the Cultural Revolution.
Bian Zhongyun’s so-called “crimes” were numerous, one of which was “opposing Chairman Mao.” What specifically happened? In March 1966, an earthquake occurred in the nearby Beijing area. For the safety of students, the school informed students that if an earthquake occurred, they should quickly leave the classroom. A student asked whether the portrait of Chairman Mao hanging in the classroom should be brought out in case of an earthquake. Bian Zhongyun did not give a direct answer to this question, neither saying yes nor saying no. This became the basis for her “opposition to Chairman Mao” charge.
On the night of June 1, 1966, Peking University was “praised” by Mao Zedong as “the first big-character poster promoting Marxism-Leninism in the country,” and he called for “resolutely, thoroughly, and completely eliminating all ghosts and monsters.”
The next day, June 2, Beijing Normal University Affiliated Girls’ Middle School also posted the first big-character poster, declaring to “vow to defend the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao to our death.” The students signing the poster were Liu Jin, the daughter of Liu Yangyao, the Party Secretary of Henan Province, and Song Binbin. On June 3, the Communist Party’s work team entered the school, and thereafter, classes were suspended, and all time was devoted to the Cultural Revolution, posting big-character posters to “expose” and attack school teachers and administrators.
On June 23, a “struggle criticism meeting” against Bian Zhongyun was chaired by the work team, with the entire school’s teachers, students, and staff participating. Bian Zhongyun endured insults and abuse. At that time, although Bian Zhongyun was the vice principal, as there was no formal principal at the school at the time, she was the de facto highest authority.
Around one or two o’clock in the afternoon on August 5, some students initiated a “gangster fighting” action, calling Bian Zhongyun the “gangster leader,” and she was beaten the most severely. It started with beating with sticks, pouring ink on her body, hanging black signs, and some even stepped on her. After two to three hours of beating and torture, Bian Zhongyun lost consciousness, urinated and defecated, and collapsed on the steps at the entrance of the dormitory building. Although the hospital was across the street from the school, students did not allow school staff to take her to the hospital. Some continued to beat and insult her. It was not until after seven o’clock in the evening that Bian Zhongyun’s body, which had already stiffened, was finally taken to a nearby hospital.
13 days after Bian Zhongyun was beaten to death, on August 18, Mao Zedong met with a million Red Guards at Tiananmen Square for the first time (there were 7 similar ceremonies later), engaging in a comprehensive launch and support of the Red Guard movement. At that time, Song Binbin presented a Red Guard armband to Mao Zedong at the gate of Tiananmen, and after Mao learned that her name originated from “Wen Zhibinbin”, he said, “Wanting to fight,” which led to Song Binbin changing her name to “Song Yaowu.”
Soon after, the official newspaper “Guangming Daily” published an article under the name “Song Yaowu (Song Binbin),” titled “I Put a Red Armband on Chairman Mao.” Subsequently, “People’s Daily” reprinted this article. Since then, “Song Binbin” has become a symbol of violence and chaos in the Red Guard movement.
After three glorious years, in 1969, Song Binbin went to the pastoral area of Xilingol League in Inner Mongolia to join the countryside movement. In 1972, she entered the Changchun Geological College as a worker-peasant-soldier student and graduated in 1975.
After the Cultural Revolution, Song Binbin went to the United States to study, obtaining a doctoral degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She acquired American citizenship and worked at the Environmental Protection Agency in Massachusetts before retiring and briefly returning to live in China.
Due to their family backgrounds, the descendants of the Chinese Communist Party’s first-generation leaders, often referred to as the “Second Red Generation,” are the first to receive information and are usually the most astute in understanding the situation and seizing the opportunities of the times. Despite reaping the benefits of the Cultural Revolution and then going abroad, transforming into Americans and enjoying the welfare benefits available in the United States upon retirement, they often return to settle in China later in life, enjoying the services of a large pool of cheap labor. This can be considered the general life trajectory of the Second Red Generation. Their ability to achieve these feats is due to their access to information, something the lower classes lack. The key difference between the rich and the poor lies in their grasp of information and their different analyses and cognitive perceptions.
In 2008, during the 90th anniversary celebration of Beijing Normal University Affiliated Experimental Middle School, Song Binbin was recognized as a “notable alumni,” leading to significant controversy. In 2009, some former students of the Beijing Normal University Affiliated Girls’ Middle School built a bronze statue for Bian Zhongyun, originally intended to be inscribed with “Died in the violence of the 1966 Cultural Revolution,” but due to opposition from former Red Guards, it was ultimately inscribed with only “August 5, 1966.”
On January 12, 2014, Song Binbin apologized in front of the bronze statue of Bian Zhongyun at the Beijing Normal University Affiliated Experimental Middle School (formerly the Beijing Normal University Affiliated Girls’ Middle School), to former teachers, classmates, and the descendants of teachers. She said that if she did not apologize now, she might never have the chance, and tearfully read a prepared statement expressing her responsibility for the unfortunate death of Principal Bian, saying she did not act in time to prevent the incident from happening.
Song Binbin also stated, “The Cultural Revolution was a great catastrophe,” and “The future direction of a country largely depends on how it faces its past,” and “I hope that all those who have done wrong during the Cultural Revolution and harmed teachers and classmates can face themselves, reflect on the Cultural Revolution, seek forgiveness, and achieve reconciliation.”
Two weeks later, on January 27, Bian Zhongyun’s husband, Wang Jingyao, issued a statement saying that he would not accept the insincere apology from the Beijing Normal University Affiliated Girls’ Middle School “Red Guards” until the truth was revealed.
During an interview with Radio Free Asia, Wang Jingyao emphasized that Song Binbin and Liu Jin were the perpetrators responsible for killing Bian Zhongyun and that there was no evidence of them trying to stop the incident. Wang Jingyao said, “They clearly killed the principal, but they told many lies, saying they rescued her, requested how to….. It’s all lies, not true; they never did first aid to Ms. Bian.”
Wang Youqin, a professor at the University of Chicago who was a student at the Beijing Normal University Affiliated Girls’ Middle School at the time, witnessed the scene where Bian Zhongyun was beaten. She told Radio Free Asia that she still vividly remembers the bloodstains left by Principal Bian on the corridor of the student dormitory fifty-five years ago. She said, “The bloodstains were there until the spring of 1969, meaning that for two years, we saw her blood every day as we walked the corridors.”
In her 500,000-word epic “Victims of the Cultural Revolution” published in Hong Kong in 2004, Wang Youqin dedicated a specific chapter to the events surrounding Bian Zhongyun. However, in 2014, “Southern Weekend” published an article interviewing Song Binbin, where she accused Wang Youqin’s book of distorting facts.
On August 29, 2021, Wang Jingyao, the husband of Bian Zhongyun and a historian, passed away. Radio Free Asia reported that he never witnessed the day when the perpetrators who killed his wife were severely punished, as he had envisioned.
However, Bian Zhongyun’s case was not an isolated incident. In the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, Chinese schools at all levels seemed to be engulfed in madness. Professor Wang Youqin, who witnessed this period of history, revealed that from 1966 to 1968, based on her research, every school experienced incidents of brutal beatings and torture of principals and teachers.
As a witness to this period of history, Professor Wang Youqin stated that history is not a story but could be repeated. She explained that in today’s China, a haze of thought prevents people from uncovering the truths of history. This haze is created for two reasons: firstly, lies that refuse to acknowledge the truth of history and consider it fabricated, and secondly, a disregard for human life, thinking that once they are dead, why bother with such matters.
However, the social conditions that led to the violence by the Red Guards during that time in China have not disappeared in today’s China. From the stabbing of an American teacher in Jilin, to the attack on a Japanese school bus in Suzhou City, to the recent incident of a knife attack near a Japanese school in South China. History has occurred, and unless we recognize and reflect on history, tragedies have the potential to reoccur.
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Production Team of “News Perspective”