Washington should not meddle in Tiananmen affair, says Beijing
Foreign Ministry spokesman rejects US demand to review crackdown on pro-democracy movement. "US statement is a groundless. . . . China has already had a clear-cut conclusion on the political disturbance".
Beijing (AsiaNews/SCMP) The Chinese government has condemned a US call to review the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. "The US statement is a groundless criticism and attack on China," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao in his weekly press briefing.
Beijing was responding to a statement released by the US marking the 17th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre in which it urged 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".
On June 4, 1989, army units backed by tanks entered Tiananmen Square and mowed down defenceless demonstrators who had been demanding democracy and an end to corruption in Chinese society over the previous month.
The government never released the final death tally, but independent international organisations have said that thousands died in and around the square.
China has always refused demands by human rights activists and victims' relatives to rehabilitate the non violent movement and compensate survivors and families.
For Beijing the protest movement was counter-revolutionary and had to be stopped with force.
"China has already had a clear-cut conclusion on the political disturbance that took place in the end of the 1980s," Mr Liu said. "The Chinese people enjoy all human rights and freedom in line with the law."
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