This morning, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party held a bipartisan press conference to commemorate the anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. The event, titled "Tiananmen at 35 - The Ongoing Struggle for Human Rights and Democracy in China," took place in Washington, D.C.
Chairman John Moolenaar (R-MI), Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), Former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY), Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), and Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) provided remarks during the press conference.
Lawmakers commemorated the legacy of Tiananmen Square and highlighted the courage of dissidents and pro-democracy activists in China today. Both veterans from the Tiananmen Square generation and younger Chinese activists attended, including Wei Jingsheng, Wang Dan, Zheng Xuguang, Times Wang, Sophie Shengchun Luo, and Zhang Jinrui.
Chairman John Moolenaar stated: “The greatest victims of the Chinese Communist Party have been the Chinese people themselves. Tens of millions have lost their lives. The brave men and women here today refuse to be silent. They refuse to repeat the party line that the CCP represents the Chinese people.”
Ranking Member Raja Krishnamoorthi added: "When Chairman Xi Jinping says he will 'crack down hard on subversion and separatist activities'... he's telling the world that the CCP will send those tanks again against anyone that stands up for freedom.”
Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy remarked on the image of "Tankman" at Tiananmen Square: “I’m proud that we will never hide from the fact that we’ll stand with the man at the tank and we’ll honor him everywhere we go until no longer will there be tanks in China after their own people.”
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi emphasized: “We as Americans must speak out for human rights in China. If we don’t because of commercial reasons, we lose all moral authority to speak out about human rights any place in the world.”
Wei Jingsheng, a leader of Beijing's 1978 "Democracy Wall" protests, commented through an interpreter: “Its [Tiananmen Square's] ideas—anti-Marxism, pro-democracy, pro-liberal values—had a huge impact on the world.”
Wang Dan, a student protest leader at Tiananmen Square said: “Human rights are natural rights of all human beings. I believe the Chinese People deserve these rights no less than any people on Earth.”
Zheng Xuaguang echoed these sentiments: “The essence of the China challenge facing the U.S., is a challenge to human freedom and dignity from a totalitarian-Stalinist Party state.”
Times Wang noted: "If you'd asked people like my father at that time... they could have told you, based on hard-won personal experience with the regime, that June 4 wasn't an anomaly... it was a revelation of the regime's true character."
