Wuer Kaixi (吾爾開希), a prominent student leader in Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, said yesterday he would keep trying to return to his native country even if it meant being arrested by the Chinese authorities.
Wuer Kaixi — now a Republic of China citizen — spent the weekend in a Japanese jail after police arrested him on Friday for trying to force his way into the Chinese embassy in Tokyo in a failed bid to turn himself in to the authorities.
“A person with a warrant on his head cannot get himself surrendered to the regime,” he said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. “How absurd is that?”
The 42-year-old activist was No. 2 on China’s list of 21 most wanted student leaders after the crackdown on the protests, in which hundreds of people were killed. He escaped and has since lived in exile in Taiwan, where he is a businessman and political commentator.
Wuer Kaixi said he wished to be reunited with his parents, whom he last saw 21 years ago. He also wants a public dialogue with Beijing about Tiananmen Square and hopes to stand in solidarity with other detained political dissidents, such as his mentor Liu Xiaobo (劉曉波).
“It was an honor in 1989 to be a student leader and if I can go back to China and become a fellow cellmate of my teacher, my good friend Liu Xiaobo, it will be a great honor for me,” he said.
Liu is currently serving an 11-year sentence for incitement to subvert state power.
Last year, Wuer Kaixi tried but failed to enter Macau.
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