Taiwan will never forget China's Tiananmen crackdown, says president
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ta ... ar-AAKGWjY
TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwan's people will never forget China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in and around Tiananmen Square 32 years ago and will stick with their faith in democracy, President Tsai Ing-wen said on Friday.
Tsai Ing-wen standing in front of a flower: Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen speaks at The Third Wednesday Club, a high-profile private industry trade body in Taipei © Reuters/ANN WANG Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen speaks at The Third Wednesday Club, a high-profile private industry trade body in Taipei
Taiwan tends to use the Tiananmen Square anniversary to criticise China and urge it to face up to what it did, to Beijing's repeated annoyance. China claims Taiwan as its own territory, to be taken by force if necessary.
Friday marks 32 years since Chinese troops opened fire to end the student-led unrest in and around the square. Chinese authorities ban any public commemoration of the event on the mainland.
Writing on her Facebook page, Tsai said Taiwan's people would not forget what had happened.
"I believe for all Taiwanese who are proud of their freedom and democracy, they will never forget about this day and will firmly stick with their faith, unshaken by challenges," she said.
"We will also not forget about the young people who sacrificed themselves on Tiananmen Square on this day 32 years ago, and that year after year, friends in Hong Kong who always mourn June 4 with candlelight."
in other news:
China blasts Taiwan's ruling party for rejecting Chinese vaccines
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News ... 622824403/
June 4 (UPI) -- China condemned Taiwan for refusing Chinese COVID-19 vaccines on the same day the island nation accepted 1.24 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccines from Japan.
More proof, if any were needed, that Taiwan and China may share language and cultural ties but are indeed separate entities when it comes to governance. Chinese people are by and large poor. Most are happy if the government provides conditions that guarantee food and shelter and a modicum of material bobbles. Taiwanese accustomed to the basic necessities of life are more interested in questions of life's meaning and personal expression. The same could be said of residents who grew up in Hong Kong, highly educated yet experiencing decades of deepening economic inequities.
Personally, I did a one day fast to commemorate the event. 32 years ago, my father and grandmother happened to be in Bejing when the crackdown started. All foreign passport holders were held in their hotel rooms for 48 hours, not allowed out to see the demonstration happening outside. When they were released to travel from the capital to the countryside, my father said he saw bullet holes in buildings as they rounded Tianamen Square on the way to the train station. We in the States, sitting glued to our TV screens, saw more of what was happening in Tianamen Square that day than my father or grandmother.