Taiwan News
Date: 2016-06-04
By: Christopher Bodeen, Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — Commemorations were held in Taiwan and elsewhere ahead of the 27th

anniversary of China’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests centered 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 outside Taiwan’s parliament on Friday to mark the June 4, 1989, military assault that left hundreds, possibly thousands, dead. Taiwan’s democratic politics and open society have long been 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 traveling to meet him and their grandson outside the country.

“This is what a so-called great nation has done to me,” Wu’er said. “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.     [FULL  STORY]