Rare footage from trial of Chinese general who defied Tiananmen crackdown order leaked online

Video shows Gen Xu Qinxian explaining why he refused to deploy troops to crush 1989 student-led demonstrations

Rare footage of a People's Liberation Army (PLA) general who defied orders to lead his troops into Tiananmen Square and crush the 1989 student protesters has been leaked online, offering a highly unusual glimpse into the upper echelons of the military at one of the most fraught moments in modern Chinese history.

General Xu Qinxian's refusal to take his troops from the PLA's prestigious 38th Group Army, a unit based on the outskirts of Beijing, into the capital has been the stuff of Tiananmen lore for decades.