HIGHLIGHTS-Purged Chinese Communist Party chief's memoirs

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BEIJING, May 14 (Reuters) - Reuters has obtained Zhao Ziyang's memoirs, which were secretly taped while he lived under house arrest after his ouster in 1989 as China's Communist Party chief for opposing the military crackdown on the Tiananmen protests.

Following are excerpts which were transcribed and translated into English. The full text will be published this month in the book "Prisoner of the State", ahead of the 20th anniversary of the crackdown on June 4.

ON THE TIANANMEN CRACKDOWN

"On the night of June 3rd, while sitting in the courtyard with my family, I heard intense gunfire. A tragedy to shock the world had not been averted, and was happening after all ... "

"First, it was determined then that the student movement was a planned conspiracy of anti-Party, anti-socialist elements with leadership. So now we must ask, who were these leaders? What was the plan? What was the conspiracy? What evidence exists to support this? It was also said that there were black hands within the Party. Then who were they?"

"Second, it was said that this event was aimed at overthrowing the People's Republic and the Communist Party. Where is the evidence? I had said at the time that most people were only asking us to correct our flaws, not attempting to overthrow our political system."

ON THE WESTERN PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM

"... it is the Western parliamentary democratic system that has demonstrated the most vitality. This system is currently the best one available. It is able to manifest the spirit of democracy and meet the demands of a modern society ..."