Taiwan must show strong bipartisan support for the democratic movement in China, which is gaining prevalence in Chinese civil society, exiled Chinese democracy activist Wang Dan (王丹) said in Taipei yesterday.
Wang, one of the student leaders in the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstration, made the remarks at a forum held by New Society for Taiwan to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party government’s bloody crackdown on student protesters.
“Regardless [of whether it is the] ruling or the opposition party, Taiwan must not be silent or absent from urging China to apologize and compensate [the victims] for what the government did in Tiananmen Square,” Wang said, adding that he was “disappointed” with apparent Taiwanese apathy to the event.
While the world focuses on the changes China has made in the last two decades, the international community should take heed of what remains the same, he said, such as rampant corruption, social injustice and strict totalitarianism.
However, he said not all was lost because he believed Chinese civil society was becoming more concerned with democracy and freedom. He said a recent forum by more than 20 of China’s leading intellectuals openly discussed the violence and injustice that occurred during the June 4, 1989, demonstration in Beijing.
Democratic Progressive Party Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) called on Ma to publicly acknowledge and condemn the Chinese Communist Party for what happened at Tiananmen Square, which he used to do every year since 1989, only stopping when he became president last year.
“It is a fact that China is becoming a world superpower. But despite its growing economy, it still has never apologized for what happened at Tiananmen Square,” she told the forum.
DPP standing committee member Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康), another panelist at the forum, pointed to the “drastic difference” between Ma’s annual statements on each anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre and his tone after he became president.
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