By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
The Chinese government was advised to release all political prisoners and face the bloodstained Tiananmen Square Massacre with respect for human rights so that “the historic wounds would be healed,” the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday on the 25th anniversary of the watershed incident in modern Chinese history.
The shadow of the haunting memory has not gone away after a quarter of century despite China being an emerging global power with great influence over regional and global affairs, DPP Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) told a press conference, at which the party released an official statement on the incident.
The journey of China’s emergence will not be complete without addressing the massacre that shocked the world, Wu added.
“Taiwanese and the DPP could not sit and watch China’s persistent censorship of information about the massacre in print publications and on the Internet, as well as its brutal oppression of dissidents,” Wu said.
The DPP expressed grave concerns over Beijing’s intensified oppression of dissidents and rights advocates ahead of the anniversary of the massacre, as well as its denial of entry on Friday to Taiwanese professor Tseng Chien-yuan (曾建元), who was to attend a forum in Hong Kong on the massacre, the party’s Department of China Affairs director Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said.
The DPP reiterated its firm support of detained and imprisoned Chinese dissidents and urged the Hong Kong government to stop interfering in civil activities because of political views, Chao said.
Gao Yu (高瑜), a 70-year-old former journalist, and Pu Zhiqiang (浦志強), a human rights lawyer, were recently detained for “leaking state secrets” and “creating disturbances,” while Yiu Man-tin (姚文田), a 73-year-old Hong Kong publisher, was sentenced to 10 years in prison on smuggling charges. They were three among of dozens of people reportedly detained by Beijing ahead of the Tiananmen anniversary.
Only when the tragic history of the massacre is no longer a taboo topic in China and people are free to discuss and commemorate the event will China’s democratic development become possible, Chao said.
As social power in China grows, the DPP believes that Chinese have the wisdom and passion to participate in the nation’s democratization, Chao said, adding that the Chinese government should immediately draw up a road map for democratization.
“A democratized China would be a key factor in promoting peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” Chao said.