Taiwan holds first Tiananmen commemoration in parliament

TAIPEI: Taiwan held the island’s first ever commemoration in parliament yesterday of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown as lawmakers urged the new government to address human rights issues in its dealing with China.

It comes weeks after Chinasceptic Tsai Ing-wen was sworn in as president, succeeding Ma Ying-jeou who oversaw an unprecedented eight-year rapprochement with Beijing.

Ties have rapidly cooled since Tsai won the presidency in January, with Beijing highly distrustful of her traditionally independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party ( DPP).

In the past, Taiwan’s government has repeatedly urged China to learn lessons from the Tiananmen crackdown on pro- democracy protesters, in which more than 1,000 were killed according to some estimates.

But parliamentarians have never before gathered to voice their views.

A day ahead of the June 4 anniversary, senior lawmakers from the DPP and the Beijingfriendly Kuomintang ( KMT) were joined by human rights activists and exiled Chinese dissident Wu’er Kaixi as they observed a minute’s silence.

They also signed a motion proposed by DPP lawmaker Yu Mei-nu to demand the government “express Taiwan’s serious concerns over redressing the June 4 incident at the appropriate time” in future interactions between the two sides.

“Taiwan and China have very close ties, so the suppression of human rights that happened to Chinese citizens could also threaten human rights in Taiwan,” Yu said.

KMT lawmaker Chen Shei-saint broke partisan ranks to voice his support, saying democratisation in China was “the biggest assurance for Taiwan’s security.” — AFP

Kaixi (centre), one of the most charismatic student leaders of Beijing’s 1989 pro-democracy movement, observes a minute of silence during Taiwanese lawmakers commemorate human rights meeting ahead of China’s Tiananmen anniversary, at the Legislative...