Blinken, Bipartisan Lawmakers Commemorate 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and a bipartisan group of lawmakers called attention to communist China’s ongoing human rights abuses while commemorating the anniversary of the bloody massacre at Tiananmen Square.

“Today, on the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, we remember the tens of thousands of peaceful Chinese pro-democracy protestors who were brutally assaulted for standing up for freedom, human rights, and an end to corruption,” Mr. Blinken said in a statement released on June 4.

“Thirty-five years later, the true toll from that day is still unknown, but we honor all those killed and imprisoned on June 4, 1989, and the days that followed.”

On that day, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ordered its troops to open fire on student protesters and unarmed civilians at Tiananmen Square in China’s capital. The Chinese regime denies having initiated a violent crackdown, and any discussion about the protest movement is considered taboo in China and Hong Kong.

Estimates of the death toll range from the hundreds to the thousands. A declassified 2017 British cable stated that at least 10,000 people were killed that day.

Mr. Blinken also paid tribute to “the many voices now silenced throughout the country, including in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong.” He also pledged to work with the international community to “promote accountability” of Beijing’s human rights abuses in China and elsewhere.

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He also called on Beijing to unconditionally release those it has arbitrarily and unjustly detained.

The Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) has a political prisoner database on its website. According to its 2023 annual report, the database documents the unjust imprisonment of 10,889 prisoners of conscience; among them, 2,615 were in detention as of June 30, 2023.

Zhou Fengsuo, executive director of the New York-based Human Rights in China, survived the Tiananmen Square massacre. On June 4, Mr. Zhou took part in a CECC hearing reviewing the legacy of the 1989 protests.

According to his written testimony, Mr. Zhou, a student leader at the time, stated he was among the last to leave the square when tanks began rolling in. He added that he witnessed the “brutal massacre” of peaceful protesters by Chinese troops, and described what he saw as a “war conducted by the CCP’s army against the Chinese people.”

“As Beijing attempts to suppress the memory of June 4, the United States stands in solidarity with those who continue the struggle for human rights and individual freedom,” Mr. Blinken said. “The courage and sacrifice of the people who stood up in Tiananmen Square thirty-five years ago will not be forgotten.”

Separately, Sens. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) introduced a resolution on June 4 commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre.

“The United States and the international community reaffirm our commitment to supporting the aspirations of the Chinese people, accountability for the PRC’s human rights abuses at home and abroad, and countering the PRC’s cynical attempts to redefine human rights in favor of state power,” Mr. Cardin said in a statement, referring to China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

“I am proud to have bipartisan support in the introduction of this resolution and reaffirm the United States’ unwavering support for the Chinese people and those who stand up to tyranny and injustice,” he added.

The resolution calls on the Chinese regime to cease censoring information about the Tiananmen Square massacre and permit an investigation into the events that day, according to a press release. It also decries the “rising trend” of the CCP’s transnational repression targeting Chinese diaspora groups and others, as well as raising alarms over Beijing’s attempts to “undermine and redefine human rights norms in the UN and other multilateral fora.”

In a recent report from the rights group Amnesty International, 32 Chinese students studying in eight countries said they held back on political activism out of fear of Beijing’s retaliation.

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