TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Tuesday said he will work hard to make historical memory last forever and reach out to everyone who cares about Chinese democracy, on the 35th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing.
The events on and around the central Beijing square on June 4, 1989, when Chinese troops opened fire to end the student-led pro-democracy demonstrations, are a taboo topic in China and the anniversary is not marked or publicly discussed.
Public commemorations now take place in overseas cities including Taipei where senior Taiwan government leaders sometimes use the anniversary to criticise China and urge it to face up to what it did.
Lai said in a post on Facebook that it is important to respond to authoritarianism with freedom and that the memory of June 4th will not disappear.
“This reminds us that democracy and freedom do not come easily and that we must build consensus with democracy and responds to authoritarianism with freedom,” Lai wrote.
“The memory of June 4th will not disappear in the torrent of history. We will continue to work hard to make this historical memory last forever and move everyone who cares about Chinese democracy.”
China detests Lai and calls him a “separatist”.
Last month China carried out war games around Taiwan in what it said was “punishment” for Lai’s separatism.
Lai and his government reject Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future. Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Lincoln Feast.)
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