Taiwan held various public events on Tuesday to observe the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre – an event that has been erased from history across the rest of the Chinese-speaking world by the tyrants of Beijing.
Hong Kong was once the site of the Chinese world’s largest and most moving Tiananmen remembrances, but that came to an end when the puppet government in Hong Kong seized on the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to “temporarily” suspend the great June 4 candlelight vigils in Victoria Park.
“Temporary” soon became permanent and, today, the puppet government arranges pro-Communist events to completely fill Victoria Park in early June of each year. Hongkongers who insist on honoring the dead of Tiananmen Square are arrested for their efforts under the ugly “national security law” imposed in 2020 to crush pro-democracy protests.
The group that organized the annual Tiananmen vigils in Victoria Park, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, disbanded in 2021 because its members feared accusations of “acting as the agent of a foreign power” under the fascist national security law. Three of them lost their bids to overturn their convictions in March 2024.
They were right to be afraid, as leaders of the group were charged with sedition for supporting the gigantic 2019 pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
In this June 4, 2020, file photo, from left, pro-democracy activists Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang Tung, and Cheung Man-kwong attend a gathering at Victoria Park in Hong Kong, to mourn those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown at Victoria Park. Hong Kong tycoon and prominent pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai and two others were convicted Thursday, Dec. 9, for their roles in last year’s banned Tiananmen candlelight vigil, amid a crackdown on dissent in the city and Beijing’s tightening political control. (Kin Cheung, File/AP)
Free and democratic Taiwan stands as the last place where Chinese people can mourn the atrocity perpetrated by the Chinese Communist Party in June 1989, defying the Party’s orders to forget the victims, what they stood for, and who killed them. In Taiwan, the day is simply known as “June 4” or “64,” with no need to explain why the date is significant.
In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), people cannot even refer to the numbers “6” and “4” without drawing the attention of Communist censors. On Monday night, Hong Kong police detained a man for merely miming the numbers “8964” in the air with his hand.
A silent prayer service was held outside Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei on Tuesday – a venue some participants found sadly ironic, as Taiwan’s onetime leader was himself an authoritarian. The grounds outside the hall were filled with art, literature, and demonstrations for other human rights causes across the Chinese-speaking world, including the oppression of Tibet and Hong Kong.
One of the participating artists, Kasey Wong, told Radio Free Asia (RFA) that June 4 is becoming a more important day in Taiwan, although it is not yet a “super-hot event” because “Taiwan has its own issues.”
“The event has become a platform that plants a seed in people in terms of citizens’ responsibility for freedom and democracy,” Wong said. “I think Taiwan is a beacon of democracy in Asia, so it has the responsibility of upholding this event, since Hong Kong is no longer able to do it.”
Taiwan’s new President William Lai Ching-te vowed on Monday to remember “the students and citizens who bravely marched for change” in Tiananmen Square.
On the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Incident, we commemorate the students & citizens who bravely marched for change. As #Taiwan deepens our commitment towards human rights, we firmly stand by the belief that the people only truly flourish with freedom & democracy. pic.twitter.com/1kZouffPwS
— 賴清德Lai Ching-te (@ChingteLai) June 4, 2024
“As Taiwan deepens our commitment towards human rights, we firmly stand by our belief that the people only truly flourish with freedom and democracy,” he said.
Lai wrote a long Facebook post on Tuesday reflecting on what the memory of Tiananmen Square means to Taiwan, which evolved “from an authoritarian system to democratization” with considerable effort and sacrifice.
“A truly respectable country is one where people speak out. Any regime should face up to the voice of the people, especially the younger generation, because social change often depends on diverse opinions; the youth generation’s power to promote national innovation should not be suppressed, but should be protected and encouraged by the state,” he wrote.
“Only democracy and freedom can truly protect the people,” he declared. “The memories of June 4th will not disappear in the torrent of history, and we will continue to work hard to keep this historical memory alive, and touch everyone who cares about Chinese democracy.”
“We must use democracy to unite consensus, respond to autocracy with freedom, face the expansion of authoritarianism with courage, and face challenges with solidarity,” Lai urged.
The Taiwanese Defense Ministry said on Tuesday morning it detected no fewer than 23 Chinese military aircraft around the island in a span of three hours, with 16 of them crossing the median line of the Taiwan Strait, once informally recognized as the boundary for Chinese and Taiwanese forces to keep their distance from each other.
China staged provocative military drills around Taiwan last month to “punish” the Taiwanese for electing Lai as their president. Beijing evidently felt another dash of bullying was in order on June 4th, the day no one is supposed to remember.
