Pro-democracy

Li also inspected a psychological warfare unit at Huchingtou, Liehyu, where he saw off a balloon carrying materials showing the free bastion of Taiwan's warm support for the pro-democracy movement on the China mainland.

The repression at Tiananmen Square dealt a serious but not fatal blow to the pro-democracy movement. It has been forced to lie dormant until a future moment of opportunity. As the revolutions in Eastern Europe proved, however, that moment will eventually come.

Because it was a state visit, the Chinese government insisted on a formal arrival ceremony in Beijing. We usually conduct these ceremonies on the White House South Lawn, and the Chinese usually conduct theirs in Tiananmen Square. Bill and I debated whether we should attend a ceremony in Tiananmen Square, where Chinese authorities had used tanks to forcibly suppress pro-democracy demonstrations in June of 1989. Bill didn’t want to appear to endorse China’s repressive tactics and violations of human rights, but he understood the square’s importance over centuries of Chinese history and agreed to respect the Chinese request.

Analysts have linked the campaign to broader efforts to stifle dissent ahead of sensitive political dates this year, especially the 20th anniversary year of the government’s bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests centered on Beijing’s Tian’anmen Square in 1989.

Families and supporters of the Redshirt protesters in Thailand handed in a letter to the London embassy yesterday calling for an end to the killings and suppression of pro-democracy campaigners.

One reason neo-Maoists have regained some traction in public debate (and why pro-democracy activism continues to ferment) is that although China has lifted itself from poverty, corruption and socio-economic inequality have reached levels that would make good King Zhao weep.

While there were no official commemorative events for the icon of political reform, whose death sparked the 1989 pro-democracy movement and subsequent military crackdown, the anniversary was marked in a memorial in Gongqingcheng, Jiangxi province.

Pro-democracy demonstrations in the Thai capital saw Germany's embassy become the focus Monday as the throngs of protesters gathered in front of the mission asked Berlin to investigate whether King Maha Vajiralongkorn is inappropriately conducting state business on German soil.