CHINA

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04 June 2006
U.S. Calls for Accounting of Tiananmen Square Deaths, Detentions

By Peggy B. Hu
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- The United States urges China to provide a full accounting of those who were killed, were detained, or went missing during the Tiananmen Square demonstrations 17 years ago, and of "the government's role in the massacre," the State Department says.

"No country, especially one which is playing an increasingly important role in world affairs, should fear an examination of its past, nor prevent its people from exercising their basic rights to accountable government and free speech, assembly and worship," the State Department said in a statement June 4.

"It is in China's own interest to clear the record and achieve its true potential by linking its efforts to modernize and prosper with greater freedoms for the Chinese people," the statement continues.

In mid-April 1989, the death of reform advocate Hu Yaobang, coupled with growing economic hardship caused by high inflation, sparked a large-scale protest movement by university students, intellectuals and urban workers.   University students and other citizens camped out in Beijing's Tiananmen Square to mourn Hu's death and to protest against those who would slow reform, according to the State Department.

These demonstrations, later known as the Tiananmen Square movement, called for an end to official corruption and for the defense of freedoms guaranteed by the Chinese constitution.  Protests also spread to many other cities, including Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou.

Beijing declared martial law on May 20, 1989.   Late on June 3 and early on the morning of June 4, 1989, military units entered the city and used armed force to clear demonstrators from the streets, reportedly killing hundreds of them.   In the following days, the Chinese government also detained large numbers of protesters in other parts of the country.

According to an April 30 Voice of America report, the Chinese government recently paid 70,000 yuan (approximately $8,700) in "hardship assistance" to the mother of a 15-year-old boy, Zhou Guocong, who died in police custody in Chengdu June 6, 1989.   Activists say the payment is the first China is known to have made in compensation to a relative of someone killed during the government crackdown on the demonstrations.

For more information on U.S. policies, see The United States and China.

The text of the statement is available on the State Department's Web site.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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