A majority of the activists who participated in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 played a key role in China's reform process, a leading English daily of China claimed on Tuesday.
"A majority of those student activists 26 years ago threw themselves into China's reform and opening-up in the aftermath of the incident," the Global Times stated in an editorial headlined "Hostile forces target younger generation".
"As creators of China's remarkable achievements, they have shared destiny with the country and witnessed the country's profound changes over the past 26 years."
The editorial, which comes ahead of the 26th anniversary of the June 4 incident of Beijing's Tiananmen Square protests in which Chinese troops inflicted casualties on civilians, has slammed a letter purportedly written by 11 Chinese students based in the US that carries "extreme views" on the 1989 protests.
Eleven Chinese students born in the 1980s or 1990s and studying in the US recently signed an open letter to students in the mainland, the Global Times noted.
"The letter carries their extreme views on the 1989 Tiananmen incident in the tone that used to be adopted by much older pro-democracy activists," the Global Times said.
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"It harshly attacked the current Chinese regime, twisting the facts of 26 years ago with narratives of some overseas hostile forces. Generally, even if changes in thought do take place, it's unlikely for mainland students who study in the US to lash out at their homeland in such an insulting way."
The daily stated that "the open letter claimed that the post-1980s and post-1990s generations in the mainland have been fooled and they couldn't get to know the 'truth' of the 1989 Tiananmen incident until they moved abroad to study, where they can get unlimited access to the internet".
But even internet censorship cannot stop people from assessing "sensitive information" from overseas websites, the newspaper said.
"The signatories mistake their own closed mindsets as the syndrome of the whole society. If the letter is truly written by a few students overseas, we have to say that those young people have been brainwashed in foreign countries, copying the paranoid minority overseas," the editorial stated.
It said the students who participated in the Tiananmen Square protests "have the final say over the issue".
"At a time when the group, in their 50s nowadays, still plays an active role in Chinese society, young students, if truly interested in what happened then, should figure out the attitude of the participants and respect their collective recognition."
According to the daily, most of the participants of the Tiananmen Square protests, through introspection, now interpret the incident "in a different way to their youth".
"China's progress, the Soviet Union's disintegration and turbulence in many other countries have fashioned their new understanding. The pro-democracy activists exiled in the Western countries after the incident are a very small part," the editorial claimed.
"Most have detached themselves from politics while a minority of the minority are stuck with the old stance, financially aided and manipulated by overseas hostile forces to upset China. The latter have alienated themselves from both the progress and national interests of China."
It said that "Chinese society has reached a consensus" to not debate the 1989 incident.
"Students born in the 1980s and 1990s have become the new targets of overseas hostile forces," it said.