WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. lawmakers said Tuesday that the ruling Chinese Communist Party This anniversary marks a stark warning that the Chinese government that turned tanks on peaceful student protesters in the heart of Beijing 35 years ago remains as ruthless and repressive today as it was in 1989. China’s bloody crackdown at Tiananmen Square.
Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, the ranking Democrat on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said China’s leaders Xi Jinping He will likely resort to violence, just like his predecessors, to achieve his goals.
“We must remember that when President Xi Jinping says he will crack down on subversive and separatist activity, he is telling the world that the party will once again send tanks at those who stand up for freedom,” the Illinois congressman said, holding up an iconic photo of a man standing against a line of tanks nearby.
Tuesday’s memorial was attended by former student leaders of the Tiananmen Square movement and young activists from mainland China and Hong Kong, but Washington China policy changed The United States has been at odds over China’s growing influence in the South China Sea and growing military threats to Taiwan, with the North Korean regime shifting from engagement to competition to contain what it sees as a threat to the world order.
“This has now become a source of legitimacy for the confrontation between the United States and China,” said political commentator Guo Baosheng, recalling the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre and the victims of the military crackdown that claimed hundreds, if not thousands, of lives.
The commemoration in Washington is part of a worldwide commemoration of the historic event, which also included a candlelight vigil at the base of a replica of the Goddess of Democracy Statue erected in Tiananmen Square during the pro-democracy movement of 1989. But it is completely taboo in China, and no commemorations have been allowed either in the country or in Hong Kong since Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020.
The Chinese government has argued that it was right to crack down on the movement to maintain social stability, and that the economic prosperity of the subsequent decades is proof the party made the right decision in 1989.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington said in an email that it would comment on the incident but did not immediately respond.
Representative Nancy Pelosi, a former House speaker and longtime supporter of China’s pro-democracy movement, said Tuesday that Beijing is failing to advance democratization.
“What’s happened in China over the last 35 years has not been good in terms of advancing democracy, human rights and democratic freedoms around the world,” Pelosi said.
She urged Americans to stand up against human rights violations. If Americans don’t, she said, “we will lose the moral authority to speak out about human rights anywhere in the world.”
Zhou Feng, a former student leader, said the Tiananmen Square incident resonates again today for those who feel dangerous from the Communist Party.
“Whether it’s Western society, the general public, or young people in China, they’re showing unprecedented interest,” Zhou said. “Especially after the pandemic, many people have realized that without freedom, there’s nothing.”
Wang Dan, another former student leader, said the bloody Tiananmen Square massacre should serve as a wake-up call for those who still have illusions about China’s Communist party. “The world needs to prepare itself for this regime’s habit of resorting to violence to solve problems,” he said.
The State Department said it remembered the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre and paid tribute to those whose voices are silenced across China, including in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.
“As Beijing seeks to suppress the memory of June 4, the United States stands in solidarity with those who continue to fight for human rights and individual freedoms,” the organization said in a statement. “The courage and sacrifice of those who stood up in Tiananmen Square 35 years ago will never be forgotten.”
