The world will always remember: Marco Rubio slams China on Tiananmen anniversary

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday marked the thirty sixth anniversary of the Tiananmen Square bloodbath with a scathing rebuke of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and a heartfelt tribute to the scholars and residents who died in Beijing’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

In an announcement, Rubio praised the “bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms” throughout the 1989 rebellion, when tens of hundreds gathered in Beijing’s largest public sq. to demand democratic reforms.

“The CCP actively tries to censor the facts, but the world will never forget,” Rubio stated. “Today we commemorate the bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms.”

Calling the 1989 protests a “national movement,” Rubio recounted how “hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in the capital and throughout China took to the streets for weeks to exercise their freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly by advocating for democracy, human rights, and an end to rampant corruption.”

He condemned the Chinese navy’s violent response: “The CCP responded with a brutal crackdown, sending the People’s Liberation Army to open fire in an attempt to extinguish the pro-democracy sentiments of unarmed civilians gathered on Beijing’s streets and in Tiananmen Square.”

Rubio additionally drew a broader message for international democracy: “Their courage in the face of certain danger reminds us that the principles of freedom, democracy, and self-rule are not just American principles. They are human principles the CCP cannot erase.”

The Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t instantly reply to an emailed request for remark.

Chinese tanks rolled into the sq. earlier than daybreak on June 4, 1989, and troops opened hearth to finish weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations by college students and employees. The ruling Communist Party has by no means launched a loss of life toll, although rights teams and witnesses say the determine might run into the hundreds, Reuters reported.

The occasions are a taboo matter in China and the anniversary just isn’t marked or publicly mentioned, though public commemorations happen yearly in abroad cities.

Rubio’s assertion comes at a rocky time within the US-China relationship. Since starting his second White House time period, US President Donald Trump has unleashed 145% tariffs on most Chinese items over what his administration sees as a long time of commerce abuses by China. Beijing responded with its personal 125% tariffs on US merchandise.

Senior US officers stated this week that Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping would quickly communicate to iron out commerce points, together with a dispute over vital minerals and China’s restrictions on exports of sure minerals.

With inputs from Reuters