Taiwan president hails courage of Tiananmen Square demonstrators: ‘We refuse to forget history'
On 4 June 1989, Chinese troops opened fire to end student-led pro-democracy protests.
China has never provided a full death toll.
The world will never forget China's 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, Taiwan's president and the top US diplomat said on the 36th anniversary of an event Beijing treats as taboo and allows no public remembrance.
The events on and around the central Beijing square on 4 June 1989 when Chinese troops opened fire to end the student-led pro-democracy protests, are not publicly discussed in China and the anniversary is not officially marked.
Public commemorations take place in overseas cities including Taipei where senior Taiwan government leaders often use the anniversary to criticise China and urge it to face up to what it did.
Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, in a post on Facebook on Wednesday, praised the courage of those who took part in the protests, saying human rights are a concept shared by Taiwan and other democracies that transcend generations and borders.
READ | China escalates military pressure on Taiwan with 'more provocative' aircraft carriers, ships
'The commemoration of the June 4 Tiananmen incident is not only to mourn history, but also to perpetuate this memory,' said Lai, who Beijing detests as a 'separatist' and has rejected his repeated offers of talks.
'Authoritarian governments often choose to silence and forget history, while democratic societies choose to preserve the truth and refuse to forget those who gave their lives - and their dreams - to the idea of human rights,' he added.
Not only do we refuse to forget history, we will implement our core values every day.
Lai Ching-te
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday praised the courage of the Chinese people who were killed in the bloody crackdown.
'Today we commemorate the bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, as well as those who continue to suffer persecution as they seek accountability and justice for the events of June 4, 1989,' Rubio said in a statement.
'The CCP actively tries to censor the facts, but the world will never forget,' he said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
The United States, in its commemoration of the Tiananmen protests in 1989, 'distorted' historical facts and attacked China's political system, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
China has lodged a complaint to the US side, Lin Jian, spokesperson at the Chinese ministry, said at a regular news conference.
Johannes Neudecker/picture alliance via Getty Images
Australia marked the anniversary saying that Canberra remains committed to protecting and supporting human rights including freedom of association, freedom of expression and freedom of political participation.
'On this day, we join communities around the world to remember the loss of life at Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989,' Australia's Consul-General to Hong Kong and Macau, Gareth Williams, said in a post on X.
Before dawn on 4 June 1989, Chinese tanks rolled into Tiananmen Square, crushing weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations by students and workers.
Peter Parks/AFP
China has never provided a full death toll, but rights groups and witnesses say the figure could run into thousands.
China blamed the protests on counter-revolutionaries seeking to overthrow the ruling Communist Party.
Security around the square was tightened on Tuesday with increased police presence. Police officers set up multiple checkpoints for identification checks on motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians, and also prevented people from taking photographs near the square.
There was no discussion about the historic event on Chinese social media, which are heavily censored by authorities.
The Tiananmen Mothers, which represents relatives of those killed, put out this week their annual statement calling for a public accounting of what happened.
'The executioners of that year have passed away one after another, but as the continuation of the ruling party, the current government has a responsibility to respond to and address the Tiananmen Massacre,' Zhang Xianling, whose son Wang Nan was killed, said in a video message.
Peter Parks/AFP
In Hong Kong, where thousands used to gather to mark the anniversary before China's imposition of a national security law in 2020, security was tight around Victoria Park, the site of the previous mass candlelight vigils.
Hong Kong's leader John Lee said on Tuesday police would take stringent enforcement actions against any acts endangering national security.
A performance artist was forced to leave the vicinity of the park and a shop selling small white candles was raided by customs officials on Tuesday.
One jailed pro-democracy activist, Chow Hang-tung, is staging a 36-hour hunger strike in prison to mark the anniversary.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
26 minutes ago
- CNN
Trump's tariffs are sending African countries into China's hands
Tariffs Asia China AfricaFacebookTweetLink Follow Africa is adjusting to the new reality of US President Donald Trump's tariffs, with countries on the continent facing some of the highest export charges. But what could become a crisis is an opportunity for United States rival China, which has long courted African countries and is now offering them a lifeline. 'We (Africa) are going straight into the hands of China,' Nigerian economist Bismarck Rewane told CNN. 'That is the unfortunate outcome,' Rewane said of Africa's expected further shift toward China, which has emerged in recent years as the continent's largest bilateral trading partner. Four African nations - Libya, South Africa, Algeria and Tunisia - face some of the steepest tariffs imposed by the Trump administration, with charges on exports ranging from 25% to 30%. Eighteen other countries from the continent were hit with 15% levies, a modified tariff package released Thursday by the White House showed. In April, when the US import levies were first announced, Trump pitched them as 'reciprocal' and targeting countries that he said had trade deficits with the US. But Trump instead based his tariffs on countries' trade deficits with the United States – not the tariffs they charge. South Africa, one of the continent's powerhouses, challenged the imposition of a 30% tariff on its US-bound exports, saying Trump's decision was not based on 'an accurate representation of available trade data.' China has offered to soften the impact of US tariffs on Africa, saying in June it would halt charges on imports for nearly all its African partners. 'There is no other opportunity for African countries to strengthen South-South trade (among developing nations) than now,' South African researcher Neo Letswalo told CNN, while urging countries to 'solely turn to China and make it the next US.' 'America is gradually forfeiting its global leadership status,' Letswalo said, adding that the more countries 'become less dependent on the US, the greater opportunity for China to become an alternative.' Before the tariff deadline, the US did not make a trade deal with any African nation despite efforts from the continent to avoid the tariffs, underscoring Africa's place on the White House's priority list. Letswalo described America's failure to negotiate a deal with Africa as 'an open goal for China.' The impact of Trump's tariffs is already being felt in some of Africa's most buoyant economies and some of the continent's poorest, such as Lesotho, which was slapped with a 15% tariff. It had previously been hit with a 50% tariff – one of the steepest rates – before the charges were modified. Lesotho's Prime Minister Samuel Matekane said in June that the huge tariff, combined with the halt of US aid to the nation of just over 2 million people, 'have crippled industries that previously sustained thousands of jobs.' Trump has described Lesotho, a landlocked nation surrounded by South Africa, as a country 'nobody has ever heard of' – even though trade between the US and Lesotho totaled over $240 million last year, mostly in textiles. Before the tariffs, Lesotho benefited from a US trade agreement that allowed it and other eligible sub-Saharan countries to export goods to the US duty-free. Authorities in Lesotho have declared a two-year national state of disaster over the tariffs, as the country braces for their impact, with the textile industry already grappling with massive job losses. Thousands of roles are also threatened in Lesotho's richer neighbor, South Africa, where citrus growers said they were gripped with 'great anxiety' ahead of the August 1 tariff deadline. In a statement this week, the country's Citrus Growers' Association (CGA) warned that 'job losses will be a certainty' if the tariffs came into effect. It added that, 'hundreds of thousands of cartons of citrus are ready in packhouses to be shipped to the US over the next few weeks,' and that implementing the charges 'will mean most of this fruit will be left unsold.' Other industries in South Africa, such as the automobile sector, also face the risk of economic shocks, analysts said. 'Already, we have companies within the automobile sector threatening to leave (the country) as a result of plummeting business,' Letswalo said. 'The tariffs will add to the burden of pre-existing issues, and if these entities decide to exit South Africa, our already existing unemployment calamities will worsen,' he said. Gwede Mantashe, South Africa's minister of mineral and petroleum resources, told reporters Tuesday that other routes are being sought for South African goods. 'If the US imposes high tariffs, we must look for alternative markets,' he said. 'Our biggest trading partner is China, not the US. The US is number two,' Mantashe added. As South Africa scouts for broader opportunities, however, the citrus growers' group has voiced its reservations, specifically that their products suit designated markets so finding another is not straightforward. Its CEO, Boitshoko Ntshabele, told CNN in a statement that 'the US market remains a priority, and so should improving access to China' and elsewhere. 'There is a deep appreciation of South African citrus by US consumers. Since 2017, our exports to that market have almost doubled. The market has immense potential,' Ntshabele added. Letswalo believes there are accompanying risks behind the enticing option of relying on Beijing to cushion the impact of Trump's tariffs. Alternating US with China 'could be risky,' he said, 'especially for some nascent industries within the (African) countries.' 'If they're not protected, Chinese products will flood and outcompete them as many African countries are price sensitive markets,' he warned. China has imposed some imbalanced trade deals of its own in Africa with trade deficits skewed in its favor, according to the China-Global South Project (CGSP), an organization monitoring China's engagement with developing countries. Additionally, the bulk of Beijing's exports to Africa comprise mainly manufactured products, while the continent's exports to China are commonly raw materials. South Africa's Ramaphosa advocated for balanced trade with China when he met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Beijing last year. Letswalo advised that, while Africa leans on China for trade, it must also seek domestic alternatives. He recommended a swift implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), an agreement signed by nations on the continent to boost trade among themselves. Although established in 2020, implementing AfCFTA has been slow, with just over 20 countries of the continent's 55 trading under the deal. Rewane believes that the US tariffs could inspire Africa 'to build economic resilience and be less dependent on lopsided trade.' Above all, he added, the continent must be 'more inward-looking rather than outward-dependent.'
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Nvidia's China Nightmare? H20 Chip Faces Backdoor Allegations in High-Stakes Trade Showdown
China's been turning up the heat on Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA), and not in a good way. This week, the country's top internet watchdog summoned Nvidia reps over what it calls serious security risks tied to the H20 chipa product Nvidia designed specifically to meet U.S. export rules. State media pulled no punches either. In a commentary published Friday, the People's Daily warned of potential chip backdoors triggering a nightmare, saying it couldn't allow infected semiconductors into its digital infrastructure. Nvidia responded firmly: Cybersecurity is critically important to us, adding that its chips don't contain any remote access pathways. Still, in today's geopolitical climate, that reassurance may not be enough. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 5 Warning Signs with NVDA. Here's where things get messier. Just a few weeks ago, the U.S. agreed to lift restrictions on H20 sales to China as part of a broader deal involving rare-earth magnetsmaterials critical for everything from smartphones to fighter jets. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had framed the H20 resumption as a meaningful breakthrough after bilateral talks in London, and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the magnet issue was solved. But with Beijing now putting the H20 back under the microscope, it's unclear whether Nvidia has actually received the licenses it needs to ship the chips. And if China decides the H20 isn't up to pareither technically or politicallythose sales may stall before they even start. Meanwhile, CEO Jensen Huang has been walking a tightrope. Fresh off a high-profile visit to Beijing, Huang praised China's AI momentum and national champions like DeepSeek, all while pushing back on the idea that Nvidia would ever install surveillance backdoors into its products. He called the suggestion not only false, but bad business. Still, the reality is this: Nvidia's H20, already weaker than its flagship GPUs, now faces a political test that could matter more than its specs. Investors watching the tech standoff might want to pay close attention to what happens nextbecause this chip is turning into a geopolitical bargaining chip. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Oil Falls Below $70 as Sentiment Sours
A poor U.S. jobs report led to a broader sell-off on Friday, with leading stock indices falling from record highs. Friday, August 1st, 2025 Buoyed by Trump's Russia threats and news of Indian state refiners curbing purchases of Russian crude, crude oil futures have been trending above $70 per barrel throughout the week, settling on Friday slightly below the $71 mark. Towards the end of the week, sentiment has been sapped by expectations of yet another OPEC+ production hike, potentially even as high as 548,000 b/d, as the eight output-cutting countries aim to get rid of voluntary quota commitments. US Slaps New Sanctions on Chinese Ports. The US State Department stated it would impose sanctions on 20 entities it suspects of trading Iranian oil and petrochemical products, including the Chinese oil terminal Zhoushan Jinrun, the fourth port facility in China to be directly targeted by the US. Indian State-Owned Refiners Stop Russian Imports. India's state-controlled refiners have stopped buying Russian oil as discounts narrowed to just -$1 per barrel to Dubai, further disincentivized by Donald Trump's announced 25% tariff on India if the country continues its purchases of Russian crude. Saudi Budget Deficits Shrinks on Higher Oil. Buoyed by higher crude oil production on the heels of OPEC+ unwinding, Saudi Arabia's budget deficit shrank to $9.2 billion in Q2 2025, a 40% decline compared to the previous quarter, putting the kingdom's public debt at 370 billion. Trump Endorses Chevron's Venezuela Return. Confirming rumours from a week ago, the Trump administration has reportedly granted a sanctions waiver to US oil major Chevron (NYSE:CVX), allowing it to resume operations in Venezuela on the condition that no money reaches the Venezuelan state. China's Polysilicon Industry Launches Its Own Revamp. Top Chinese producers of polysilicon, a key component of solar panels, are reportedly negotiating a $7 billion plan to purchase and shut down a third of the country's production capacity, equivalent to 1 million tonnes per year, eyeing an industry revamp. LNG Canada Runs into Problems. Shell's (LON:SHEL) $40 billion LNG Canada is undergoing technical issues that halved its liquefaction capacity, with problems reported at the Kitimat plant's gas turbine and refrigerant production unit, prompting at least one LNG tanker to divert away from the facility. Egypt's Favourite Oil Majors Expand Their Presence. Seeking to kick-start rapidly depleting offshore gas fields, Egypt's state oil company EGPC signed a joint exploration deal with European oil majors ENI (BIT:ENI) and BP (NYSE:BP) to appraise the El Temsah block to the east of Chevron's Nargis discovery. New Zealand Wants to Drill for Oil Again. The government of New Zealand has lifted its 2018 ban on offshore drilling introduced by the Ardern government back in the day, with crude production in the country gradually declining over the past years due to lack of investments, to just 17,000 b/d. Power Outage Saps Freeport LNG Output. The US' Freeport LNG terminal has been running at 50% of its capacity after a power outage had put the entire plant offline on Wednesday, representing a 1.1 BCf per day loss for feedgas demand in the country as it reported seven outage events in July alone. Europe Mulls Pooling LNG Purchases from US. The European Commission suggested pooling LNG buying demand from European companies to ramp up imports of US-origin LNG in line with Brussels' $250 billion energy import commitment, seeking to create some negotiating leverage with US suppliers. Copper TACO Clears Chicago Premium. In a perfect example of a TACO trade, US copper futures plunged by 22% on Wednesday after the Trump administration exempted copper ores, concentrates and cathodes from its oft-hailed 50% copper import tariff, sending COMEX futures down to $9,650/mt. US Refiner Gets Slapped with Giant Penalty. US downstream giant Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) was mandated to pay $800 million in damages to biofuels producer Propel Fuels for stealing trade secrets under the guise of gathering due diligence for a potential acquisition, according to a California state court ruling. Egypt Eyes FSRU Start Next Week. Egypt's government announced that flows from its recently deployed LNG regasification vessel Energos Eskimo are expected to start next week, seeking to further ramp up LNG imports after taking in an all-time high of 1 million tonnes last month, doubling June imports. By Tom Kool for More Top Reads From this article on Sign in to access your portfolio
