The former leader of Hong Kong’s Catholic Church yesterday hit out at Beijing for its stance over the 1989 pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square and voiced concern for religious freedom.
Cardinal Joseph Zen (陳日君), a staunch democracy advocate and long-time vocal critic of the Chinese government, said he wanted to see an official re-examination of the bloody crackdown on student demonstrators 20 years ago this week.
“I hope they really consider seriously the possibility of a reassessment of the verdict,” Shanghai-born Zen said in a speech at Hong Kong’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club, three days before the June 4 anniversary.
“It will not damage anyone, but would be to the advantage of the whole nation,” he said.
The events of 1989, in which hundreds or possibly thousands died when the army moved in on the young protesters, remain taboo in China, where the government blocks any mention of it in the press and on the Internet.
Beijing has refused to change its position that the protests threatened Chinese Communist Party rule and had to be quelled to maintain economic reforms.
Asked when or if he thought the Chinese government would soften its stance, Zen said: “Things in China are unpredictable. It may happen tomorrow or still take 20 years.”
Zen, 77, an official adviser to Pope Benedict XVI since his recent retirement, said he was also deeply concerned for the freedom of the Church in the world’s most populous country.
“There’s no real freedom in China, I’m sorry to say,” the cardinal said, adding the state of the Church there was “more close to my heart” than even the Tiananmen issue.
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