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I think Secretary of State Marco Rubio is getting under China’s skin a little bit.
To commemorate the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Rubio posted the following on X:
We remember the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal crackdown 36 years ago in Tiananmen Square and commemorate the courage of the innocent people killed and imprisoned that day. Freedom, democracy, and self-rule are human principles the CCP cannot erase. Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) June 3, 2025
He also released a longer statement via the State Department:
In the spring of 1989, tens of thousands of students gathered in Beijing’s largest public square to mourn the passing of a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader who tried to steer China toward a more open and democratic system. Their actions inspired a national movement. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in the capital and throughout China took to the streets for weeks to exercise their freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly by advocating for democracy, human rights, and an end to rampant corruption. The CCP responded with a brutal crackdown, sending the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to open fire in an attempt to extinguish the pro-democracy sentiments of unarmed civilians gathered on Beijing’s streets and in Tiananmen Square.
The CCP actively tries to censor the facts, but the world will never forget. Today we commemorate the bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, as well as those who continue to suffer persecution as they seek accountability and justice for the events of June 4, 1989. Their courage in the face of certain danger reminds us that the principles of freedom, democracy, and self-rule are not just American principles. They are human principles the CCP cannot erase.
As you might imagine, China didn’t like this too much. The country’s foreign ministry spokesman, Lin Jian, said that Beijing was lodging a formal complaint with the United States. He added, “The erroneous statements by the U.S. side maliciously distort historical facts, deliberately attack China’s political system and developmental path, and seriously interfere in China’s internal affairs.”
Taiwanese President Lai Ching backed Rubio’s remarks up in a Facebook post, stating that Taiwan will not “forget history.
