On the afternoon of April 29, several high-ranking officials were entrusted by the State Council and Li Peng to open talks with the students. The officials included State Council Spokesperson Yuan Mu; Deputy Director of the State Education Commission He Dongchang; Secretary-General of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee Yuan Liben; and Beijing Vice Mayor Lu Yucheng. They met with 45 students from 16 universities in Beijing, in the Communist Youth League's Central Conference Room. The dialog circled around punishing official corruption, news reporting, student class strikes, the marches, and other issues. Yuan Mu especially conveyed Li Peng's response to the "April 26 Editorial", saying: "The political struggle problems of controverting Chinese Communist Party leadership and the socialist system mentioned in the '426 Editorial' – those problems are aimed at the illegal behavior of only a very small number of people, not at the broader majority of students."

However, over the nearly three hours of discussion that followers, student speech was strictly restricted. Each student was only allowed to speak once, and it had to be in the form of questions, which were answered by Yuan Mu and the others. In addition, among the 45 students present, 41 were cadres from official university student unions who had been designated by the government, with their speeches all arranged by the authorities in advance. Yuan Mu and He Dongchang said even more strongly: "To those unaccredited illegal student organizations, we give no recognition." There was a heated argument between the two sides as a result of this, and Wu'er Kaixi left the venue angrily.

Also on the 29th, the Beijing Students' Autonomous Federation (BSAF) issued a statement announcing that it would not recognize the "dialog", and called on the authorities to hold direct talks with the BSAF.

References: Zhang Wanshu, "The Big Bang of History: A Complete Record of the June 4th Incident"; "The Critical Moment – Li Peng Diaries"