Marco Rubio lights the fuse on the Tiananmen events and puts relations between Washington and Beijing in the balance
US Secretary of State criticises Chinese censorship of Tiananmen events, triggering harsh reaction from Beijing
On the anniversary of the events in Tiananmen Square, 4 June 1989, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio throws fuel on the fire in relations with China by claiming that 'censorship could not "erase" the 1989 repression'.
Those events that happened 37 years ago, mass protests to which the authorities reacted forcefully in order to re-establish the status quo, are still a controversial topic in China today, to the point that any mention of them is forbidden.
Beijing's reaction
A damnatio memoriae that clashes with extremely challenging statements at a time when the US and China seek, after the recent summit in Beijing last month, to re-establish a reasonable balance in bilateral relations.
Indeed, Rubio's words were enough to trigger reactions from the Chinese government, which responded sharply through Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning. 'The erroneous remarks made by the US side distort historical facts,' she said, 'defame China's political system and development path, and constitute interference in China's internal affairs. "China," the spokeswoman concluded, "is strongly dissatisfied with this.
The Chinese government has never acknowledged the events surrounding the Tiananmen massacre and prohibits any form of commemoration.
