Members of the US Congress on Tuesday said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) that sent in tanks against peaceful student protesters 35 years ago in the heart of Beijing is as ruthless and suppressive today as it was in 1989, as they commemorated the anniversary of China’s bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square.
US Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking Democratic member of the US House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) would resort to violence, as his predecessors did, to achieve his goals.
“We have to remember that when Chairman Xi Jinping says he will crack down hard on subversion and separatist activities ... he’s telling the world that the [CCP] will send those tanks again against anyone that stands up for freedom,” Krishnamoorthi said, with the iconic image of a lone man facing down a line of tanks nearby.
Photo: AP
The Tuesday commemorations, which included former student leaders of the Tiananmen movement and younger activists from China and Hong Kong, came as Washington has shifted its China policy from engagement to competition meant to curb China’s growing influences, which the US sees as potentially upsetting the world order. The two countries also are clashing over Beijing’s militarization of the South China Sea and its increasing military threats against Taiwan.
“This is now the source of legitimacy for the US rivalry with China,” political commentator Guo Baosheng (郭寶勝) said.
The commemorations in Washington, which also included a candlelight vigil at the foot of a replica of the Goddess of Democracy — a statue erected in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 movement — are part of the worldwide remembrance of the historic event. However, it is strictly a taboo in China, with no commemoration allowed there or in Hong Kong after Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020.
The Chinese embassy in Washington in a statement said that Beijing “has already drawn a clear conclusion on the political disturbance in the late 1980s.”
“The great achievements we made in the past 75 years since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) speak volumes about the right development path we have chosen with the endorsement by our people,” the embassy said.
“We have found a path toward better human rights that reflects the trend of the times and fits our national realities,” the statement said.
The embassy said China opposes the US politicization of human rights issues, use of double standards and interference in China’s internal affairs in the name of human rights.
US Representative Nancy Pelosi, a longtime supporter of China’s pro-democracy cause, said that Beijing has failed to progress.
“What has happened in China under the circumstances in the past 35 years has not been positive in terms of global democracy, in terms of human rights, in terms of promoting democratic freedoms,” Pelosi said.
She urged Americans to stand up against human rights abuses.
If Americans do not, “we lose all moral authority to speak out about human rights in any country in the world,” she said.
Zhou Fengsuo (周鋒鎖), a former student leader, said the Tiananmen crackdown is once again resonating today, for those who are seeing the danger of the CCP.
“Be it the Western society, the general public or China’s younger people, they have shown unprecedented interest,” Zhou said. “Especially after the [COVID-19] pandemic, many people have realized all is nothing without freedom.”
Wang Dan (王丹), another former student leader, said the Tiananmen crackdown should serve as a wake-up call for those who are still harboring any illusion about the CCP.
“The world needs to be ready for this, that this regime habitually resorts to violence to solve problems,” Wang said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the US stood in solidarity with Chinese democracy advocates and vowed never to forget the crackdown in Tiananmen Square 35 years ago.
“As Beijing attempts to suppress the memory of June 4, the United States stands in solidarity with those who continue the struggle for human rights and individual freedom,” Blinken said in a statement.
“The courage and sacrifice of the people who stood up in Tiananmen Square thirty-five years ago will not be forgotten,” he said.
Blinken, who has visited China twice since last year to stabilize relations, did not hold back from calling the crackdown as a “massacre.”
Blinken said that the US backed the calls of Tiananmen protesters for China to recognize human rights as enshrined by the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“We will continue to speak out and work with the international community to promote accountability for PRC human rights abuses both within and outside its borders,” he said.
Additional reporting by AFP
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