Associated Press
Beijing, June 3: Commemorations were held in Taiwan and elsewhere Friday ahead of the 27th anniversary of China’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests centred on Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, while the government in China, where the incident remains a taboo topic, said it had long ago turned the page on the “political turmoil.” Former student leader Wu’er Kaixi was joined by lawmakers at Taiwan’s legislature Friday to mark the June 4, 1989, military assault that left hundreds, possibly thousands, dead.
Taiwan’s democratic politics and open society have long served as a counterpoint to China’s authoritarian one-party system, which permits no discussion of the crackdown or memorials for the victims. Wu’er said the Chinese government continues to prevent him from returning to China and bars his elderly parents from travelling to meet him and their grandson outside the country. “This is what a so-called great nation has done to me,” Wu’er told participants in the gathering outside Taiwan’s Parliament. “We are facing a nasty and brutal China.”
Wu’er fled China after the crackdown, in which he was named the second most wanted among the student leaders. Unable to return home, he married a Taiwanese woman and settled on the island in 1996. Earlier this year he ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat in the legislature. With the anniversary looming, security in China has been tightened and victims’ family members have been placed under additional restrictions. At least half a dozen people have reportedly been detained for attempting to commemorate the events, although a small group wearing T-shirts condemning the crackdown converged on the square Sunday, among them former house painter Qi Zhiyong, who had both of his legs amputated after being shot by martial law troops early June 4, 1989.