China Reform Monitor: No. 1108

June 3:

Taipei has appealed to Beijing to be “brave enough to shoulder its responsibilities and sincere enough to seek reconciliation,” with the victims of the crackdown and their families. The statement, which was issued by Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Commission (MAC), also called for “pushing forward real reforms of the country’s political and social systems.” The MAC said that this part of history will not be forgotten and that Beijing has no other recourse but to “face it squarely in order to heal the wounds,” Taiwan’s official Central News Agency (CNA) reports. It also urged Beijing to respect and tolerate “diverse views” and protect the human rights of dissidents and rights activists. The later call was echoed by President Ma Ying-jeou who said China will endear itself to the Taiwanese people more by being tolerant of political dissidents and different opinions than by providing material benefits, CNA reports.

June 4:

Tens of thousands gathered for a vigil in Victoria Park in central Hong Kong to mark the 25th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Organizers said the crowd numbered over 180,000 while police estimated that 99,500 had attended. The turnout was the largest since 1989, according to organizers, and the second-largest according to police estimates, trailing the 2010 turnout, which came in at around 113,000. The crowd was younger than in previous years and for the first time people in their 20s and 30s predominated. The security crackdown on the mainland left Hong Kong as the only city on Chinese soil where such a public commemoration could take place, the New York Timesreports. Just before the Victoria Park vigil, the event promoter’s website, which had come under periodic attack since the spring, was disabled by hackers. “It is a reasonable suspicion that the attack came from the mainland authorities,” said Richard Tsoi, vice chairman of the vigil’s organizing committee.

In the run-up to the June 4 anniversary, China imposed a security clampdown in central Beijing and rounded up scores of people, mostly political activists, lawyers, and artists. Thousands of police and security forces with automatic rifles were deployed across the capital, with a large force including fire engines and ambulances concentrated around Tiananmen Square. Tourists and vendors went about the vast public square at the heart of Beijing, but uniformed and plainclothes officers were stationed at every corner and checked the ID cards of passers-by. A journalist was ordered to delete photos of scuffles between police and frustrated pedestrians waiting to enter the square, the Straits Timesreports.

Two years after he renounced politics, the Dalai Lama has urged China to embrace democracy and offered prayers for the “martyrs” of the Tiananmen Square crackdown, Reuters reports. The exiled Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, reviled by Beijing as a separatist, gave these comments at a prayer meeting: “I offer my prayers for those who died for freedom, democracy and human rights. In this anniversary of China’s young martyrs, let us pray that the Chinese leaders of today would turn their hearts away from fear and defensiveness, that they would reach out to the victims and victims’ families, and repent of the massacre of China’s youth.” Beijing condemned the comments. “Everyone is clear about who the Dalai Lama is. His statement has ulterior motives,” said a foreign ministry spokesman.

June 6:

China’s state censors have scrubbed the internet of references to commemorations of the Tiananmen crackdown including the vigil in Hong Kong. All public discussion of the military’s suppression of the demonstrations was quickly removed, Agence France Presse reports. Internet censorship was tightened ahead of the anniversary, with searches for the date “6.4” and similar terms blocked by search engines. Under pressure from authorities, Chinese social networks quickly deleted any possible references to the crackdown, banning terms including “Tiananmen,” “student movement,” “6/4” and “25th anniversary.” Following the Hong Kong vigil, the list of blocked search terms expanded to include “Victoria Park,” “candlelight,” and “Teng Biao,” the Chinese human rights lawyer who delivered a blistering rebuke of Beijing at the rally. Users who attempted to search for blocked terms received a message explaining that results were not shown “in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and policies.”