Author:
Publication: Initiativesforchina.org
Date: March 12, 2016
URL:   http://www.initiativesforchina.org/?p=2205

Press Release

Our Response to Trump and Kasich’s Remarks about the Tiananmen Massacre

Chinese version: www.yibaochina.com/FileView.aspx?FileIdq=6570

March 11, 2016

We are appalled by Donald Trump’s remarks about the Chinese government’s 1989 massacre during the 12th Republican presidential candidate debate last Thursday, in which he called the heroic pro-democracy protest in Beijing a “riot”, and praised the Chinese government’s response as “strong.” Trump’s comments show not only a lack of moral orientation, but also show a complete disregard for the hundreds if not thousands of innocent lives lost when the Chinese government butchered unarmed students and citizens in Tiananmen Square on June 3-4, 1989.

Many of us participated in that peaceful demonstration, and we know that we were merely exercising our basic rights to protest and our rights for free speech. We petitioned the government to curtail the rampant corruption and start political reform to transition to democracy. That’s all we did. We were patriots, not rioters by any standard. However, the Chinese government labeled this peaceful protest a “riot”, and branded us as common criminals.

But the people in the free world knew better, and in the wake of the 1989 massacre, many world leaders condemned the horrific atrocity.  On June 5th of 1989, George H. W.Bush, then president of this great country, publicly condemned the Chinese government’s brutality, rightly pointing out that the peaceful protectors in Beijing were just advocating basic human rights that were enshrined in both the American and Chinese constitutions, and stressing that throughout the world the US always stands with those who seek greater freedom and democracy. President Bush and the U.S. Congress also imposed economic and diplomatic sanctions against the Chinese Communist regime.

All the U.S. presidents since George H. Bush have denounced the violent actions in Tiananmen Square. That’s why the U.S. Department of State each year marks the anniversary of the 1989 crackdown with a statement calling on the Chinese Government to “end harassment of those who participated in the protests and to fully account for those killed, detained, or missing.”

We greatly appreciate the Republican presidential candidate Governor John Kasich’s unequivocal condemnation of the 1989 massacre and his suggestion of establishing a statue to honor the Tank man, an icon and soul of that peaceful protest.

We are also encouraged by and grateful to the other two Republican presidential candidates Senator Marco Rubio and Senator Ted Cruz. Senator Rubio has long been a major voice on Capitol Hill for human rights in China and Senator Ted Cruz introduced the bill in the Senate to rename the plaza in front of the Chinese embassy after Liu Xiaobo, the Chinese democracy leader who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 and has been a political prisoner since 2008.

We believe Mr. Trump is not just irresponsible in choosing his words, but also shows that he may still admire the Chinese Communist regime’s “strength” and “power.” It seems clear to us that Mr. Trump’s past statement, and his failure to clarify his remarks at the debate, are a betrayal of American values and ideas. We do know they are an affront to the victims of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, their families, and to the millions of others who have suffered and died peacefully standing up for democracy and human rights.