China Slams US Over Tiananmen Anniversary Statement
"We urge the US side to act on the commitment of respecting China and Chinese people, stop inciting ideological confrontation and stop interfering in China's internal affairs under the pretext of democracy and human rights," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press briefing Thursday.
The sharp rebuke followed Rubio's Wednesday statement, in which the top American diplomat invoked the memory of those who died in the 1989 crackdown. "No amount of censorship can erase the past. Those who sacrificed to uphold their unalienable rights of free expression and peaceful assembly will be vindicated someday," Rubio said.
Mao dismissed the remarks as "erroneous," characterizing them as "a distortion of historical facts, vilification of China's political system and development path, and interference in China's internal affairs" — language that drew Beijing's "strong deplorement and firm opposition." She insisted the Chinese government had long reached a "clear conclusion" on what she described as the "political disturbance" of the late 1980s.
"No country or force in the world can stop the Chinese people from forging ahead," she added.
The protests that culminated in the Tiananmen Square massacre began on April 15, 1989, and were violently suppressed on June 4, when Beijing deployed military forces to retake the square. Nearly 300 people were killed and 7,000 injured, including soldiers — a death toll China has never officially acknowledged. US-China relations deteriorated sharply in the crackdown's aftermath, a wound that flares anew each year as the anniversary approaches.
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