2016 Commemoration of Tiananmen Square Massacre
Remarks by Daniel Calingaert, Executive Vice President
June 3rd, 2016 | Washington, D.C.
Good morning. It is an honor to commemorate the 27th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre with you, especially those of you who participated in the protests and were firsthand witnesses to the brutality of that day.
Some may ask why, 27 years later, we still gather to talk about what happened in the Square and surrounding streets on June 4, 1989. Others might ask why we do this when we know it may upset the Chinese government. The answer is simple and well understood by all those here today.
We gather to honor and commemorate the lives that were lost and to acknowledge the ongoing abuses and suffering of the many political, religious, and ethnic minority prisoners languishing in Chinese prisons today.
What the world witnessed in 1989 is appropriately called a massacre. Exact numbers are hard to pinpoint due to the Chinese government’s obfuscation, but, by the time it was over, hundreds if not thousands were dead, thousands were wounded,[1] and around 10,000[2] had been arrested. Several dozen participants were executed in the following weeks.[3] These protesters were not criminals. They were not violent. They were peaceful students and concerned citizens who had mobilized to express their desires for a more democratic future for their country. They were the brightest minds and the best hope for moving the political and economic future of their country forward. And, they were brutally repressed.
Decades have passed, and new officials have risen to senior leadership positions in the Chinese Communist Party, but Party principles have not changed. To this day, Miao Deshun remains in prison for his role in the protests, 12 former participants have been jailed for their continued activism,[4] and brutal repression against those speaking out for their rights remains the norm.
Thousands of human rights defenders, religious and ethnic minorities, journalists, and rights advocates are imprisoned in China today. Some are tortured; others are held in secret “black jails.” Their families are harassed and interrogated. In a recent letter to the Obama Administration, Freedom House and other human rights organizations highlighted just a few of the cases: press freedom advocate Guo Feixiong who went on a hunger strike in May to protest his lack of adequate medical care and abusive and degrading treatment by prison authorities; more than 20 human rights lawyers, such as Wang Yu and Li Heping formally arrested for crimes including “subversion of state power” and “inciting subversion of state power” as a result of the July 9, 2015 crackdown on rights lawyers; Ilham Tohti, prominent Ugyhur economist and writer serving a life sentence, and a finalist for this year’s prestigious Martin Ennals Human Rights Award (2016); Liu Xiaobo, political reform advocate and 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner; Thabkhe Gyatso, a Tibetan Buddhist monk imprisoned since 2008, who is now severely ill; Yang Hua, a house church pastor in Guiyang.
We remember these individuals and the hundreds like them who have sacrificed their personal freedom and safety to advocate for the rights of their fellow countrymen.
We also gather today to educate the next generation about the dangers of authoritarian rule.
The Chinese government’s strict censorship of the 1989 protests has resulted in an entire generation of Chinese who know nothing about the events that occurred 27 years ago. In a 2014 study, “just 15 out of 100 students” in “four top Beijing colleges” were able to identify the Tank Man photo.[5] This censorship continues. Just days ago, Ding Zilin, one of the founders of Tiananmen Mothers – a group of family members of those killed during the protests – was blocked from talking to international reporters by the Chinese police, with reports of officers surveilling her home and cutting off her phone line.[6]
It is vital that all young people living in China know the true character of their government, which claims to promote a harmonious, stable, prosperous society but in practice broadly suppresses freedoms in a desperate attempt to maintain power and control above all else. As is true with all authoritarian systems around the world, the current system in China does not, will not, and cannot result in true and lasting harmony, stability, or prosperity. Today’s young Chinese are living under a lie.
It is crucial for the international community to continue to shine a light on the truth about 1989 and for eyewitnesses of the protests to share their stories and speak about what they saw.
Here are the facts: In the spring of 1989, pro-democracy demonstrations had been building across China for weeks. As Chinese leadership became increasingly alarmed, more and more demonstrators took to the streets, culminating in the brutal crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in the early morning hours of June 4th. Armed troops opened fire on protesters-who, at one point, numbered around one million[7] -and tanks rolled over everything in their path. The brutality unfolded before the eyes of international press, some of whom were beaten by Chinese troops for attempting to document the crackdown.[8]
It is also crucial for the international community to shine a light on the truth about what is happening in China today.
As Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World report highlights, freedom is shrinking around the world, and declined in 105 countries over the last ten years. This decline is especially visible in China, which is rated as not free in Freedom in the World, ranks second to last for press freedom in Asia in Freedom of the Press (only North Korea is worse), and is the world’s lowest performer in Freedom on the Net.
In recent years, the economy has served as a key source of legitimacy for the Chinese government. As the economy has weakened and civilians have grown discontent, leaders have shifted their methods of control, clamping down on dissent and criticism, and repression has worsened under the leadership of Xi Jinping. Of 17 categories of potential victims of repression (activists, religious and ethnic minorities, human rights lawyers, scholars, and even ordinary internet users and petitioners) identified in a recent Freedom House report, 13 have faced increased repression since November 2012.
Last fall, human rights lawyers were rounded up and imprisoned. The National People’s Congress has passed a slate of laws designed to restrict civil society and stamp out dissent. And, China is even reaching beyond its borders to kidnap publishers and booksellers from Hong Kong and track and intimidate refugees who have fled China for neighboring countries.
The lessons of history are important. Desperation for control is why the Chinese government cracked down in Tiananmen Square and it is why they crack down today.
Finally, we gather to express our hope for the future of China and freedom for the Chinese people.
For any society to move past deep atrocities and embrace the lessons of history, truth and reconciliation are necessary. We are hopeful today, despite the dark past, that truth and reconciliation will come to China.
Fundamental freedoms are the right of all people, no matter where they may live in the world. And, we are hopeful that all Chinese will fully understand the rights to which they are inherently entitled and will soon see a day in which they can fully realize these rights.
Supporting democracy and fundamental freedoms is hard. It takes work and often requires great sacrifice. No one knows that better than those of you gathered here today, many of whom personally suffered for your work on these issues. No one knows that better than the family members of those who were murdered on June 4th .
But, we who enjoy these rights owe it to our brothers and sisters in China to keep speaking out for the truth and for the human rights of all people.
At Freedom House, we believe that human rights are inextricably linked from the strategic and economic interests of the United States. The United States can and should support democracy at the same time it pursues U.S. security and economic interests abroad and engages with authoritarian governments, both friendly and hostile. On the eve of the last Strategic and Economic Dialogue of the Obama Administration, there is no better time for the United States to demonstrate its leadership by raising these issues with the Chinese government.
The sacrifices of those protesting in 1989 were not in vain. We are inspired by their memory to keep pressing for truth and freedom, and we will continue to remember them in the years to come.
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