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Taiwan urges China to learn Tianamen lesson
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou urged China on Friday to learn from the lessons of Tiananmen Square, 21 years after the bloody crackdown on student protests, and to be more tolerant of dissidents.
"We hope that the mainland authorities will remember the painful lessons to prevent tragedy from repeating and take necessary moves to comfort the victims and their families," he said in a statement marking the anniversary.
Ma urged Beijing "to adopt a brand new approach to human rights issues and treat dissidents with a more tolerant manner" to convince the international community that its rise to power is peaceful.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people were killed in the square in the heart of Beijing on the night of June 3-4, 1989, when the Chinese military sent in tanks to violently crush weeks of democracy protests.
Beijing's official verdict after the protests described them as a "counter-revolutionary rebellion."
Ties have improved markedly since Ma took office in 2008 on a Beijing-friendly platform, following eight years of tensions under the previous pro-independence government.
Beijing however still claims the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification by force if necessary although they have been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949.
Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou urged China on Friday to learn from the lessons of Tiananmen Square, 21 years after the bloody crackdown on student protests, and to be more tolerant of dissidents.
"We hope that the mainland authorities will remember the painful lessons to prevent tragedy from repeating and take necessary moves to comfort the victims and their families," he said in a statement marking the anniversary.
Ma urged Beijing "to adopt a brand new approach to human rights issues and treat dissidents with a more tolerant manner" to convince the international community that its rise to power is peaceful.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of people were killed in the square in the heart of Beijing on the night of June 3-4, 1989, when the Chinese military sent in tanks to violently crush weeks of democracy protests.
Beijing's official verdict after the protests described them as a "counter-revolutionary rebellion."
Ties have improved markedly since Ma took office in 2008 on a Beijing-friendly platform, following eight years of tensions under the previous pro-independence government.
Beijing however still claims the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification by force if necessary although they have been governed separately since the end of a civil war in 1949.
