The Obama administration issued a rare public critique Wednesday of China, pressing Beijing to reveal how many protesters were killed in the government crackdown on the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in 1989 and to free any of those still imprisoned for their parts in the protests.
One day before the 20th anniversary of the crackdown, the comments were a shift for the Obama administration, which has until now hesitated to question Beijing's human rights record. In February, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that human rights issues shouldn't be allowed to "interfere with" other key matters between the two countries, such as climate change and the global financial crisis.
On Wednesday, by contrast, the State Department issued its sharpest denunciation of China since Mrs. Clinton assumed her post as the nation's top diplomat.
Mrs. Clinton pressed China to "examine openly the darker events of its past" by providing a "public accounting of those killed, detained or missing" and freeing "all those still serving sentences in connection" with the protests.
The substance of the remarks echoed demands that U.S. officials have been making -- in almost the same words -- for years. In 2006, a State Department spokesman under George W. Bush urged China "to provide a full accounting of the thousands who were killed, detained or went missing and of the government's role in the massacre."
In Beijing, heavy security in the Chinese capital and tightened restrictions over foreign media access appeared to prevent any major protests, as China silently marked the anniversary.
Hundreds of uniformed and plainclothes security personnel Wednesday patrolled the area surrounding Tiananmen Square , which in 1989 was the site of a weeks-long peaceful protest movement that rocked the nation. Communist Party leaders ended those demonstrations by sending heavily armed soldiers into the city on the night of June 3 and into June 4, leading to violent clashes with civilians that left hundreds dead. The government said the action was necessary to prevent chaos.
On Wednesday, access to the square was barred for most people, although tourists and others passed freely in the area immediately surrounding the square.
Ding Zilin, a former professor whose teenage son was fatally shot near Muxidi on June 3, 1989, said last month she planned to bring photos of her son and others killed that night to Muxidi on Wednesday for a memorial. But Ms. Ding was prevented by security officers from leaving her apartment, the Associated Press reported.
The heavy security was widely expected. June 4 -- the day that generally marks the anniversary -- is the most sensitive date in the Chinese political calendar. In recent days, the government has prevented distribution -- already limited -- of some foreign newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal Asia. Authorities appear to have blocked access to certain Web sites that could contain sensitive material, including Twitter Inc., the micro-blogging service.
In Hong Kong and Macau, Chinese territories that are separately governed, officials barred entry to at least two Tiananmen activists. Wu'er Kaixi, a student leader in 1989 who has lived in exile in Taiwan since the crackdown, said in a statement he intended to surrender to Chinese authorities to stand trial, in hopes of "a resumption of a dialogue of a sort," and to reunite with his parents, who he said weren't allowed out of the country. Macau authorities refused his entry.
After you read this do you think U.S should account Middle East War & Vietnam war too?
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