Tiananmen rebel hero vs. Blasio

Running for House

Yan Xiong stood up to the Communist government in China as a young pro-democracy Tiananmen Square protester — now he wants to take down former Mayor Bill de Blasio in the race for Congress.

“It would be horrible if Bill de Blasio is elected to Congress,” Xiong (inset) told The Post Sunday.

De Blasio last week announced he is running for the 10th District House seat, and so is Xiong.

Nearly 20% of the population in the newly drawn 10th Congressional District is Asian American, taking in Chinatown in lower Manhattan as well as the large Chinese immigrant community in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Xiong, 57, said de Blasio doesn’t stand a chance.

“De Blasio ignored Chinatown and Asian American community,” he said. “The Chinese community will not be ignored if I’m elected to Congress.”

On Monday, the aspiring representative will hold a “Stop de Blasio” rally in Chinatown as part of his push for Congress.

“Bill de Blasio doesn’t care about our Asian communities. He doesn’t care about our safety, and openly discriminated against our highperforming students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds,” Xiong claims in a campaign flyer.

Xiong claims de Blasio’s educational policies opposing merit and achievement — by attempting to scrap the admission test to get into the specialized high schools and change the gifted and talented programs — is bad for America.

De Blasio sought to change the policies because only a small number of black and Latino students were admitted.

“His policies don’t encourage students to study hard. He doesn’t understand why Asian-American parents care so much about their children’s education. This is good for our nation longterm,” Xiong said.

He also is spearheading opposition to the de Blasio plan to close the notorious Rikers Island jail complex and replace it with four smaller borough-based jails, including one in Chinatown.

De Blasio and his nascent campaign had no immediate comment.

The 10th Congressional District was created after maps drawn by Democrats were struck down by the courts for partisan gerrymandering — which Republican critics dubbed the “Hochulmander” because Gov. Hochul approved them. A court-supervised special master redrew the maps.

Xiong led pro-democracy protests at Tiananmen Square in China as a young college student — drawing the wrath of the Communist government. Following the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989, he fled to the US as a political refugee and joined the Army, serving as a chaplain in Iraq.

“In China, I was a freedom fighter. I joined the Army when I came to America because I wanted to be a freedom defender,” he told The Post.