I disagree, that photo could’ve easily been taken before the killing started. The fact that tank man’s identity or whereabouts are unknown provides evidence that he was probably killed in the demonstrations.
> The British government has itself killed quite a lot of civilians and is hardly a reliable source considering their history with China.
This is completely fallacious. The fact that Britain has killed civilians has no bearing on their truth-telling here. You’re essentially arguing that no country is capable of telling the truth because it’s not realistic to name a country that hasn’t killed civilians at some point, no?
I do not think in general governments are a good source of facts and even in the best circumstances most seem incapable of telling the truth. The British government reporting on China is nowhere near the best circumstances. The account you quoted now serves as propaganda for people who want to believe that China is uniquely monstrous. A number of people have quoted it on HN and it is at odds with eyewitness accounts.
Even the Chinese government admits it killed hundreds of people during the protest. Possibly the number is over 1k, but 10k deaths is not credible nor is the vivid account.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tank_Man
The main wikipedia article on Tianenmen square discusses other estimates of the number of deaths (all others being much lower):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_Tiananmen_Square_protests
There are a number of people involved in the protests who have left China and provided accounts. At least one person wrote a book, although there is no English translation as far as I know.
The British government has itself killed quite a lot of civilians and is hardly a reliable source considering their history with China.