The afternoon of June 9th, Deng Xiaoping, then-chairman of the Central Military Commission, met with the cadres from the martial law units at the army level and above. This was Deng Xiaoping's first public appearance since the June 4th crackdown, indicating that the Chinese Communist authorities had taken control of the situation in Beijing, and dispelling rumors that Deng Xiaoping was seriously ill or had passed away. Yang Shangkun, Li Peng, Qiao Shi, Yao Yilin, Wan Li, Li Xiannian, Peng Zhen, Wang Zhen, Bo Yibo and others were also present at the meeting. Those not present included Zhao Ziyang, general security of the Chinese Communist Party who had lost his power for advocating dialog with students over the student movement, and Hu Qili, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee.

Deng Xiaoping's speech that day was later edited into a document and conveyed to the whole country; this put an official end to the 1989 democracy movement.

In Deng Xiaoping's speech, now called the June 9th Speech or the "Speech Made While Receiving Cadres of the Martial Law Units in the Capital", he continued to characterize the movement as "counter-revolutionary riots", saying that the aim of the student movement was "to overthrow the Communist Party, as well as the socialist system. Their goal was to establish a bourgeois republic, an out-and-out vassal of the West."

He stated, "This storm was bound to come sooner or later. This was determined by the major international climate and China's own minor climate. It was bound to happen; it was independent of people's will. It was just a matter of time and scale." Additionally, he mentioned that it was completely appropriate for the "People's Daily"'s April 26th editorial to have characterized the problem as "turmoil".

Before ending his speech, Deng emphasized the need to adhere to the "Four Cardinal Principles", while continuing "to reform and open up". He stated a need to "draw an end to the present, and look toward the future".

As documented in "The Big Bang of History: A Complete Record of the June 4th Incident", leaflets began to be distributed throughout society immediately after Deng Xiaoping's speech. The leaflets read, "The happening of this storm is entirely at the will of Deng Xiaoping. A small group [within the Party] first told the students to engage in rioting, and then it further developed into a bloody crackdown. Their aims were, under the guide of the Communist Party, to overthrow the socialist system, subvert the People's Republic of China, and establish a feudal fascist dynasty."

References: [八九天安門事件大事記("Timeline of the 1989 Tian'anmen Square Incident")(Chinese)] (https://blog.bnn.co/hero/201106/wurenhua/9_1.shtml); "The Big Bang of History: A Complete Record of the June 4th Incident"; "The Critical Moment – Li Peng Diaries"; [人民日報("People's Daily")(Chinese)] (http://cpc.people.com.cn/GB/33839/34943/34944/34947/2617562.html); [大公報("Ta Kung Pao")(Chinese)] (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1WtiPReNGXIu3trnCrm0ly5UJ0Wcg6QbJ/view?usp=sharing); [文匯報("Wen Wei Po")(Chinese)] (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H4WIAiVGGqrhE54woBDOqaEhPQw3e1Cp/view?usp=sharing); [明報("Ming Pao")(Chinese)] (https://drive.google.com/file/d/13dLYf59hKKVgcL_goJnClSspk0wPsrVG/view?usp=sharing); "The Tiananmen Papers"; [《人民不會忘記》("The People Will Never Forget")(Chinese)]