President Tsai promotes democracy on Tiananmen anniversary

2016/06/06

President Tsai Ing-wen offered to share the lessons of Taiwan’s democratization with mainland China in a Facebook post June 4, the 27th anniversary of a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

“As president, I do not mean to criticize the political system on the other side of the strait. Rather, I am sincerely willing to share Taiwan’s experience of democratization,” she said in her first remarks on Tiananmen since assuming the nation’s highest office May 20. The president added the Chinese people undeniably enjoy better material lives today, but mainland China would win greater respect internationally if its people had more rights.

Because of the 1989 crackdown, “many people lost their families and hopes for reform. Many others chose to leave their native land and live in exile overseas. Taiwan experienced all of this before. And that’s why every Taiwanese person had empathy when watching the footage on television 27 years ago,” Tsai wrote. “We had been on the same path. We understood better than anyone else the aspiration of the students in Tiananmen Square for democracy and freedom.”

The president observed that during her presidential campaign last year she found that visitors from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau in attendance at her rallies showed great curiosity in democratic elections. Most of them, she wrote, would realize democracy is a wonderful thing after experiencing it personally.

“Do not let June 4 forever be an unspoken issue between the two sides,” she said, adding the suffering in mainland China due to the crackdown can be relieved only by the ruling party on the other side of the strait, whereas her responsibility is to ensure democracy and freedom for the people of Taiwan and build a peaceful, stable cross-strait relationship. “I hope both sides of the Taiwan Strait one day share the same views on democracy and human rights.”

Source: Taiwan Today (http://taiwantoday.tw/ct.asp?xItem=245368&ctNode=2194&mp=9)