Eighteen years ago Xiao Mingli was a captain in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and serving in China's capital, Beijing.
As an officer with the PLA, Mr Xiao said he did not participate in or see the massacre of pro-democracy activists at Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. The day after the atrocity however he visited the square and saw evidence of the killing; bullet holes and blood on the ground.
Today many people inside China, Mr Xiao said, do not know the truth about what happened when Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping ordered the PLA to clear Tiananmen Square of the activists.
Mr Xiao believes many Chinese people have forgotten or are unaware of the reality behind of the event. "Especially the young, they don't say anything," he said. "Because our [Chinese] government never says it happened... they always tell lies to the young people."
"If you're in the mainland, you can't learn anything about June 4th," he said. "But in Australia you can. You can go to the websites."
Now living in Australia Mr Xiao was part of a Melbourne rally held on Sunday that was organised by the Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition. The event remembered the massacre of not only activists but of other Chinese citizens.
Just prior to the PLA reaching the square on June 4th they were met in the streets by crowds of ordinary citizens who, while not joining in the Tiananmen Square protest, did not want to see the students gunned down. The army opened fire on the civilians, killing and wounding hundreds.
Then, the PLA finally reached Tiananmen Square and cleared it. Final casualty figures are unknown – estimates place the number of dead well over one thousand.
Also attending the Melbourne rally was Wei Jiewu who said he was not at Tiananmen Square but saw university students on hunger strike and remembered reports by the Communist state run media saying students had attacked the government. "I did not believe that," said Mr Wei, "from other sources, like VOA, I knew that it was not true.
"Still, right now, the [Chinese] government doesn't say anything about what they've done wrong. They want people to forget it all."
The Chinese democracy activists in Melbourne were not alone in their concerns; recent statements issued by human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, high profile dissidents and the US State Department all call upon the Communist authorities to address what happened on June 4th 1989.
"The fullest possible accounting by the Chinese Government of those killed, detained, or missing is long overdue," US State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey said via statement.
"Many in China and elsewhere are unaware that thousands of Chinese citizens were arrested and sentenced without trial in 1989 and an estimated 100 to 200 still languish in prison for Tiananmen-related activities."
Inside China, according to Epoch Times reporters, approximately 200 demonstrators gathered on Beijing's Tiananmen Square on the 18th anniversary. Chinese police immediately arrested all the demonstrators.
The demonstrators formed groups around the Great Flagpole, in front of the Great Hall of the People, and at the Monument to the People's Heroes.
Police, who were out in force on the Square to prevent demonstrations, surrounded and seized the demonstrators as soon as they assembled.
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