On the eve of the 37th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, the two co-chairs of the U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) issued a joint statement mourning the victims of the massacre and their families, and strongly demanding that the CCP release a number of Hong Kong figures imprisoned for peacefully commemorating June Fourth, including Jimmy Lai.
On Wednesday (June 3), CECC co-chairs Senator Dan Sullivan and Representative Chris Smith said bluntly in their statement that even 37 years after tanks rolled into Beijing, the CCP still refuses to answer the most basic question: "Why were peaceful calls for freedom and reform met with bullets and bloody repression?"
"Today, we commemorate history that the CCP still tries to erase," the two lawmakers said in their statement. "On the 37th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, we honor all those who peacefully called for freedom of speech, accountability, and an end to corruption, and who paid for that courage with their lives and their freedom."
The lawmakers said that despite deploying the full force of its powerful state apparatus in an attempt to erase this history, the CCP has still been unable to stop people from pursuing freedom and truth.
"The CCP can occupy the square, but it cannot command the human conscience; it can censor history, but it cannot erase memory," they said.
To this day, any mention of the Tiananmen crackdown remains taboo within China, subject to strict internet and media censorship. Because the annual candlelight vigil at Hong Kong's Victoria Park has been banned by the CCP, commemorative events have shifted to cities such as Taipei, London, New York, and Berlin, which now carry forward, in relay, the guardianship of June Fourth memory.
Naming and Supporting Hong Kong's Political Prisoners
The CECC statement paid particular attention to the changing situation in Hong Kong. The two co-chairs said they remember the Hong Kong people who have, for decades, held fast to the conviction of June Fourth — people whose commemorative activities are now banned, whose organizers have been thrown in prison, and for whom even peaceful mourning is now treated as a crime.
The commission explicitly called on the CCP to end its censorship and denial of the June Fourth massacre, and demanded the release of Hong Kong figures imprisoned for peaceful commemoration — including Nobel Peace Prize nominee Jimmy Lai, Chow Hang-tung, Gwyneth Ho, Joshua Wong, and Lee Cheuk-yan.
The two co-chairs also paid tribute to the student leaders who have lived in exile abroad for so many years.
"Their courage, their leadership, and their enduring commitment to freedom have enriched this country — the American home they chose," they said. "We will continue to commemorate the Tiananmen Massacre every year, until the people of China and Hong Kong can do so freely, without fear, punishment, or restriction."
That same day, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio also issued a special statement commemorating the historic event.
Rubio said: "No amount of censorship can erase this history. Those who sacrificed themselves in defense of the inalienable rights to free speech and peaceful assembly will one day see justice done."