Tiananmen crackdown anniversary remembered in Taiwan

Members of a China's honour guard practice marching in formation at the Great Hall of the People, across the street from Tiananmen Square, before a welcoming ceremony for Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni in Beijing, China, Friday, June 3, 2016. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

BEIJING -- Commemorations were held in Taiwan and elsewhere Friday ahead of the 27th anniversary of China's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests centred on Beijing's Tiananmen Square, while the government in China, where the incident remains a taboo topic, said it had long ago turned the page on the "political turmoil."

Former student leader Wu'er Kaixi was joined by lawmakers at Taiwan's legislature on Friday to mark the June 4, 1989, military assault that left hundreds, possibly thousands, dead. Taiwan's democratic politics and open society have long served as a counterpoint to China's authoritarian one-party system, which permits no discussion of the crackdown or memorials for the victims.

Wu'er said the Chinese government continues to prevent him from returning to China and bars his elderly parents from travelling to meet him and their grandson outside the country.

"This is what a so-called great nation has done to me," Wu'er told participants in the gathering outside Taiwan's parliament. "We are facing a nasty and brutal China."

Wu'er fled China after the crackdown, in which he was named the second most wanted among the student leaders. Unable to return home, he married a Taiwanese woman and settled on the island in 1996. Earlier this year he ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat in the legislature.

With the anniversary looming, security in China has been tightened and victims' family members have been placed under additional restrictions. At least half a dozen people have reportedly been detained for attempting to commemorate the events, although a small group wearing T-shirts condemning the crackdown converged on the square on Sunday, among them former house painter Qi Zhiyong, who had both of his legs amputated after being shot by martial law troops early on June 4, 1989.

Asked about the anniversary, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China had "long ago reached a clear conclusion about the political turmoil at the end of 1980s and other related issues."

China's explosive economic growth in the years that followed "proves that the path of socialism with Chinese characters we chose to follow ... is in line with the fundamental interests of the Chinese people, and it represents a wish shared by them all," Hua told reporters at a daily news briefing.

Another former student leader, Wang Dan, told a commemorative event in Tokyo that China's post-crackdown development proves it isn't true that economic growth will eventually lead to democracy.

Wang, now a professor in Taiwan, said holding such memorials was about more than just remembering the 1989 events.

"It's a gesture to show your political position," he said. "It's a gesture to fight against the view of the Communist Party."

Associated Press video journalists Johnson Lai in Taipei, Taiwan, and Emily Wang in Tokyo contributed to this report.