U.S. calls for China to account for the 'ghosts' of Tiananmen

BEIJING (Reuters) - The United States urges China to make a full public account of those killed, detained or who went missing during a crackdown on student-led pro-democracy protests in and around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

Paramilitary policemen take position near Beijing's Tiananmen Square, China June 4, 2018. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj

The Chinese government sent tanks to quell the June 4, 1989 protests, and has never released a death toll. Estimates from human rights groups and witnesses range from several hundred to several thousand.

The Tiananmen crackdown is a taboo subject in China and 29 years later it remains a point of contention between China and many Western countries.

In a statement on Sunday the recently appointed Pompeo said he remembered “the tragic loss of innocent lives”.

“As Liu Xiaobo wrote in his 2010 Nobel Peace Prize speech, delivered in absentia, ‘the ghosts of June 4th have not yet been laid to rest’,” Pompeo said referring to the Chinese dissident who died last year while still in custody.

“We join others in the international community in urging the Chinese government to make a full public accounting of those killed, detained or missing,” Pompeo added.

In response to Pompeo’s comments, China had lodged “stern representations” with the United States, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Monday.

China long ago reached a clear conclusion about the events of that era, but the United States every year issues statements making “gratuitous criticism” of China and interfering in China’s internal affairs, Hua said.

“The U.S. Secretary of State has absolutely no qualifications to demand the Chinese government do anything,” she added.