Tiananmen raises fresh China-US spat

BEIJING - Agence France-Presse

Visitors take a rest in front of a screen showing a propaganda video at Tiananmen Square. Tiananmen crackdown provoked a fresh China-US spat. REUTERS photo

China urged the United States on June 1 to stop interfering in its affairs after the U.S. called for a full accounting of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown days ahead of the anniversary.

“We urge the U.S. side to discard political prejudice, correctly treat China’s development, immediately rectify its wrongdoings and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs so as not to sabotage China-U.S. relations,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in a news release, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The comments came in response to a statement from U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki May 31 ahead of the June 4 anniversary.

“The 24th anniversary of the violent suppression of demonstrations in Tiananmen Square on June 4 prompts the United States to remember this tragic loss of innocent lives,” Psaki said. “We renew our call for the Chinese government to end harassment of those who participated in the protests and fully account for those killed, detained or missing.”

Troops killed hundreds of protesters labeled as “counter-revolutionary” during the pro-democracy protests in Beijing.

China’s government has so far provided no official toll for the repression, which was condemned throughout the world and led to the temporary isolation of Beijing on the international stage.

Unofficial estimates of the numbers killed range from around 200 to more than 3,000.