Obama Urged to Raise Rights on Tiananmen Anniversary
U.S. lawmakers and activists called Monday on President Barack Obama to speak firmly on human rights when he meets his Chinese counterpart, 24 years after Beijing crushed protests in Tiananmen Square.
President Xi Jinping heads to California on Friday for his first talks with Obama since assuming office in Beijing, with alleged Chinese support for cyber attacks on U.S. companies and government set to be high on the agenda.
The State Department called last week on China to "end harassment" of survivors of the pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, which China suppressed at the cost of hundreds if not thousands of lives on June 3-4, 1989.
Representative Chris Smith, who has long been active on human rights, called on Obama to raise concerns directly with Xi after China's foreign ministry accused the State Department of interference through its statement.
"A robust discussion of human rights abuses in China must be on the agenda and not in a superfluous or superficial way. It's time to get serious about China's flagrant abuse," said Smith, a Republican from New Jersey.
"Can a government that crushes the rights and freedoms of its own people be trusted on trade and security issues?" he said at a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing.
Testifying before the subcommittee, Yang Jianli, an activist who witnessed the Tiananmen crackdown, said that a growing number of Chinese saw themselves as "shitizens" whose rights are disregarded by the state.
But Yang voiced guarded optimism for the future.
"The people of China are obviously experiencing revolutionary change. Above all else, we must maintain our faith in my compatriots that we can and will join the vast majority of the world's peoples who now live in free or at least partly free countries," he said.
Chai Ling, a key leader of the Tiananmen protests who later moved to the United States and embraced Christianity, spoke about her faith at the hearing.
"President Xi Jinping, unlike Deng Xiaoping, you don't need to use terror and massacre to maintain order. All you need is the love of Jesus," she said, referring to China's paramount leader during the Tiananmen protests.
Source: Agence France Presse
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