17th anniversary Tiananmen Square

[Muscletang]

U.S. urges China to reassess Tiananmen

WASHINGTON - The United States marked the 17th anniversary of China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators at Tiananmen Square on Sunday by urging Beijing to re-evaluate its actions.

China's government has stood by the suppression of what it has called "counterrevolutionary" riots, saying it preserved social stability and paved the way for economic growth.

"The U.S. urges China to provide a full accounting of the thousands who were killed, detained or went missing and of the government's role in the massacre," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement. "We also urge China to address the ongoing violations of the rights of victims and their families and to make public the list of those still in prison."

Discussion of the crackdown is still taboo in China outside of the semiautonomous regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese television news and major newspapers did not mention the anniversary.

In Hong Kong, several hundred people holding candles gathered at Victoria Park, creating a sea of lights covering four soccer fields.

McCormack said it "is in China's own interest to clear the record and achieve its true potential by linking its efforts to modernize and prosper with greater freedoms for the Chinese people."

Sounds bad but our government did the same thing. Waco?

[Broke_as_****]

Originally Posted by Muscletang

Sounds bad but our government did the same thing. Waco?

This may be more opinion then fact (even though I really doubt it) but Waco was quite a bit different then Tianamen.

[Muscletang]

Originally Posted by Broke_as_****

This may be more opinion then fact (even though I really doubt it) but Waco was quite a bit different then Tianamen.

True, but it is a little bit of the same. The Chinease government killed people in Tiananmen for no reason (as far as we know but it's hard getting hard facts about it). The U.S. government killed people at Waco for no good reason and they're complaining to China?

[drunken monkey]

i think there is a little bit of the notion that perhaps the US should clean up its own history books before asking others to do the same.

[tenguzero]

It's always BS. Everyone wants everyone else to fess up to their actions out of some sense of moral obligation, yet they've got plenty of their own skeletons in the closet. I've always liked how China gets all pissed off when Koizumi (Prime Minister, Japan) visits Yasakuni (Japan's shrine to its war dead) because of the attrocities and general crimes committed against (the Chinese for example) during WWII.

Hey China, how's Tibet doing?

Obviously the U.S. is no different (Waco, the American Indian, etc.)

[YogsVR4]

The biggest difference between Tiananmen and Waco is the people in their respective countries to research into it. In the US, you can find article after article of people condeming it. You cannot (in China) find any acknowledgement that the government did anything that day.

My sister-in-law was really amazed at the information she could find here, but has no access to when she goes to visit her parents in Shanghai.