Thirty years ago the communist government of China cracked down on student democracy protesters who gathered in Tiananmen Square. The number of protesters killed that…
Thirty years ago the communist government of China cracked down on student democracy protesters who gathered in Tiananmen Square. The number of protesters killed that day is unknown but the subject remains a sore spot for the Chinese government which still censors information about the event. Yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo kicked the hornet’s nest by criticizing China and calling for a full accounting of Tiananmen Square. From Voice of America News:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement that the protesters, hundreds of whom were killed by soldiers and tanks in the June 4,1989, protest, “served as an inspiration to future generations calling for freedom and democracy around the world, beginning with the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of communism in Eastern Europe in the months that followed.”
He said ‘the events of 30 years ago still stir our conscience.” He called on Beijing “to make a full, public accounting of those killed or missing to give comfort to the many victims of this dark chapter of history. Such a step would begin to demonstrate the Communist Party’s willingness to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
He said that in the three decades since the incident was televised throughout the world, the U. S. had “hoped that China’s integration into the international system would lead to a more open, tolerant society.”
But Pompeo said “those hopes have been dashed. China’s one-party state tolerates no dissent and abuses human rights whenever it serves its interests. Today, Chinese citizens have been subjected to a new wave of abuses, especially in Xinjiang, where the Communist Party leadership is methodically attempting to strangle Uighur culture and stamp out the Islamic faith, including through the detention of more than one million members of Muslim minority groups.
