(Taipei) The repression of Tiananmen Square in Beijing by the Chinese government will not disappear “in the torrent of history”, said the new Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te on Tuesday for the 35e anniversary of the event.
“The memories of June 4 will not disappear in the torrent of history and we will continue to work hard to keep this historical memory alive”, for “all those who are attached to Chinese democracy”, wrote on Facebook M . Lai, who took office in May.
“Because it reminds us that democracy and freedom are not easy to achieve, we must […] respond to autocracy with freedom and confront the rise of authoritarianism with courage,” the leader added.
On June 4, 1989, China sent troops and tanks against pro-democracy and peaceful demonstrators in Beijing’s main central square to end weeks of protests calling for political change.
Hundreds of people, even more than a thousand by some estimates, were killed.
The subject is particularly sensitive for China’s communist leaders and any mention of the repression is strictly censored in the country.
Many young Chinese today are unaware of this part of Chinese history because of this censorship.
In Taipei, an annual vigil is planned for Tuesday at 6:40 p.m. (6:40 a.m. Eastern) at the Chiang Kai-shek memorial.
China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces, which it has not yet succeeded in reunifying with its territory since the end of the civil war and the coming to power of the communists in Beijing in 1949.
Beijing has accused President Lai Ching-te of pushing the island towards “war”, accusing him of being a “dangerous separatist”.