A former leader of the Tiananmen Square protests in China has lashed out at US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, whom he dubbed a “privileged comeback king” and warned that the US is at risk of abandoning its cherished freedoms.
Wuer Kaixi said he was speaking on behalf of Chinese democracy dissidents everywhere in condemning the provocative property magnate, who was criticized last week after describing the 1989 demonstration in Beijing as a “riot.”
“Speaking personally, after 27 years in exile from that ‘riot’ ... I think I can speak for all fellow exiled and imprisoned Chinese in condemning Trump,” Wuer Kaixi wrote on Facebook.
“I am not alone in appealing to the very same Americans who offered Chinese such as myself refuge when our own government deserted us to put aside partisan disputes and unite against Trump,” he said.
In a televised exchange, Republican frontrunner Trump was quizzed about his 1990 comments on the student-led protests and subsequent government crackdown that costs hundreds, possibly thousands of lives, in which he referred to “the power of strength.”
Speaking on CNN, Trump insisted he was not endorsing the Chinese Communist Party’s brutal response, which saw the military brought in to crush the protests.
“I said that is a strong, powerful government that put it down with strength,” he said. “And then they kept down the riot. It was a horrible thing. It doesn’t mean at all I was endorsing it.”
Wuer Kaixi lived in the US after fleeing China in the aftermath of the protests, but has resided in Taiwan for the past two decades.
He has tried to return to China on several occasions, but has been denied entry each time.
Beijing continues to block any activists advocating democratic reforms and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government has tightened its grip on the media.
“Politically, in China, nothing has changed — if anything it has become worse in recent years,” Wuer Kaixi said. “Trump, a privileged comeback king from a litany of failed fast-buck business scams, is an enemy of the values that America deeply defines itself by: the same values that have long provided hope to the victims of oppressive power worldwide.”
“Those of us who have fought for freedom anywhere in the world worry that something is about to change in America,” he wrote.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by