DIVERGENCE: Taiwan took the path of democracy and freedom after the Kaohsiung Incident, but rights have been constrained in China since Tiananmen, Tsai Ing-wen said
Taipei Times
Date: Jun 04, 2019
By: Lu Yi-hsuan and Sherry Hsiao / Staff reporter, with staff writer
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday urged Beijing to correct its “historical
President Tsai Ing-wen, right, talks with Chinese dissident and writer Wilson Chen at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday.
Photo: CNA
mistake” of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the massacre, which began overnight on June 3, 1989, and continued through June 4 to brutally crush tens of thousands of students, workers and others who had been protesting in and around the square, calling for democracy, free speech and a free press.
For 30 years, the Chinese government has lacked the courage to reflect on the historical significance of the June Fourth Incident, choosing instead to “block information, distort the truth and attempt to cover up its mistakes and the events of 1989,” the council said in a statement.
China should face its historical mistakes, apologize and correct the incident so that the victims of the incident may “rest in peace,” it said. [FULL STORY]