Tiananmen Square Protest was an event that shocked the world, and the number of protestors who were killed at in the incident still remains a mystery. The incident had become a global symbol and was considered one of the most terrifying events in the modern China history. Many people around the world witnessed the Chinese government who showed no mercy killing unarmed Chinese civilians and pro-democracy protestors at Tiananmen Square. After June 4, 1989 China has received criticism around the world, mainly from Western countries in North America, Europe, and some Asian countries. According to BBC News, “The US President George Bush said he deeply deplored the use of force, and the UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said she was “shocked and appalled by the shootings”(BBC News, 2010). While the international press reported that the Chinese government had demonstrated the regime’s brutal suppression of freedom and had violated human rights, some communist states such as Eastern Germany, North Korea, and Cuba supported China’s actions in handling the situation. To retort criticism around the globe, the Chinese government insisted the incident was an internal affair and the force was necessary to maintain “social stability”, and China also declared that it was a “counter-revolutionary rebellion” that had to be stopped” (Bristow, 2009).
In addition, the Tiananmen Square incident had certainly damaged China’s international image in the world. For example, “public attitudes toward China 5 years after the 1989 massacre continue to reflect such general displeasure, albeit with apparently less severity” (Waller and Marianne, 1994). In 1990, an America newspaper, Washington Post, reported the majority of Americans felt the government should include opposing human rights violators in the American foreign policy to boycott China. Moreover, when Beijing, China tried to bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics Game, the International Olympics Committee (IOC) had received many complains that opposed Beijing, China to host such a grand event. Since China lacked political freedom and human rights, international audience and press expressed their concern that Beijing, China was not suitable for hosting the Olympics Game. As a result, public respond had an effect on the final voting decision. In 1993, IOC announced Sydney, Australia as the year 2000 Summer Olympics Games host city.
Aftermath
Until today, many countries around the world still continue to urge the Chinese government to reveal the truth of incident and release hundreds of people who are still imprisoned because of the Tiananmen Square protest. In 2009, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, released a statement to “urge Beijing to account for those killed in a crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square 20 years ago” (Branigan, 2009). However, the Chinese government has continued to conceal the details of the event from the public and has tried to avoid discussing the issues relating to this incident. Indeed, 20 years after the incident, the Tiananmen event has become a taboo subject in China, and Chinese civilians have been forbidden to discuss it in the public. Even the media are prohibited to publish news that is related to the event. Meanwhile, the Chinese government refuses to apologize to the civilians who were killed in this incident, and the government hasn’t set a memorial day for those who lost their lives in the event.
Censorship
For the past 20 years, the Chinese government has tried to erase every trace of the Tiananmen Square incident and prohibit civilians from exchanging information related to the event. In order to effectively secure information from exposing to the public, the Chinese government implemented a censorship system. In the past, the censorship system only applied to books, news and media. However, due to technology improvement the usages of digital and broadband transmission in China are rapidly increasing. Therefore, the Chinese government has advanced their censorship system, which is known as the Great Firewall China. This system allows the government to inspect computer system and communication network. When companies such as Google and Yahoo entered the Chinese market, they had to follow the local regulations and they were requested to offer the Chinese version search engine so that the Chinese government can closely monitor the Chinese user activities. Hence, the search engines inside China restrict the users’ freedom to access some particular websites and search terms. As a result, when Chinese users try to search articles, videos, photos, and wordings related to the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Protest, all the relating information would be blocked. Moreover, websites that are founded containing June 4 event or anti-government messages would be removed immediately since the websites, personal blogs, and social networking sites are very closely monitored by the Chinese internet police. Violators who tried to publicize the Tiananmen incident will face the consequences of imprisonment or receiving fine. For instance, in 2004, “a journalist, Shi Tao, sent to a western democracy website a government document banning the news media from mentioning the 4 June anniversary. He was arrested and is now serving a ten-year prison sentence” (Jian, 2008).
In fact, the repression has exceeded beyond digital perimeter. In Beijing, thousands of plainclothes and secret policemen are located at the Tiananmen Square every day. Their duty is to prevent foreign media from filming and reporting about the incident, so when Journalist and TV crews try to film they would be harassed by plainclothes/secret police using large umbrellas to block their shots (Bodeen, 2009). Moreover, protests that draw crowds and activities and attempt to remind people about the incident are strictly banned at the square. Thus, when foreign TV channels broadcast news and report about the anniversary in China, it would either be blacked out or go blank.
Freedom:
After June 4, 1989 China had quickly transformed itself into one of the world fastest growing economies. Although China is trying to improve its global status by gradually becoming a free market country, there are still many restrictions within the country. The international opinion and criticism pushed China to introduce democracy reform and offer Chinese people the freedom. However, many people in China argue that “China is not ready for a democracy society” even though they believe Chinese people have more freedom now than in 1989, especially the ordinary people in non-governmental activities. One of the reasons that the Chinese people refuse to talk about the incident is because they want to forget about the past. Many believe that to make China stronger, this would be the path that the people and the country have to go through. On the other hand, the former protestors and victims group who witnessed the event urge that the event should not be forgotten because they believe in “remembering the past, bravely offer insights into how they face the future” (Yee, 2010). For instance, ex protest leader, Wang Dan questioned, “although 21 years have passed, has the government, as the suppressor, ever forgotten the event? Many Chinese in exile cannot return to China to date, only because they refuse to admit that they have acted wrongly, a demand of Chinese embassies” (Yee, 2010). Also, Tiananmen Mother, a group comprising the parents, relatives, and friends of victims of the incident mentioned, “for a long time, the CCP bans all mentions of ‘June Forth’, with the result that young people born in the 1980s and 1990s refuse to believe that this event has ever happened” (Yee, 2010).
Sources for this section:
Yee, Andy. “Lest We forget, Tiananmen Incident 21 Years On.”Global Voice. June 04, 2010. Retrieved June 6, 2010 from http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/06/04/china-lest-we-forget-tiananmen-incident-21-years-on/
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) News. “1989: Massacre in Tiananmen Square.” On This Day 1950 - 2005. Retrieved June 5, 2010 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/4/newsid_2496000/2496277.stm
