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<p>It was 15 years ago today that the Communist leadership of the People's Republic of China sent tanks into Beijing's Tiananmen Square to subdue peaceful demonstrations. Thousands were killed and disappeared into the nation's gulags. In the years since, China has been welcomed into the community of nations with open arms, winning the 2008 Summer Olympics and being admitted into the World Trade Organization. The hope was that engagement and exposure to civilized governments would encourage Beijing's thugs to appreciate the rule of law. So far, the strategy has not worked. China's Communist rulers are as tyrannical as ever.</p>

BEIJING, China (CNN) -- China's government censors have been repeatedly blacking out CNN's coverage of the 15th anniversary of the bloody Tiananmen crackdown. Since CNN started airing a series of Tiananmen-related packages last Monday, all but one of them have been censored. Audio and video have been repeatedly blacked out -- sometimes selectively, but most of the time completely -- whenever CNN shows reports on the crackdown.

Police Detain 16 at Tiananmen Square 43 minutes ago By JOE McDONALD, Associated Press Writer BEIJING - Police kept Tiananmen Square free of demonstrators Friday, detaining at least 16 people while activists abroad marked the 15th anniversary of the deadly attack on pro-democracy protesters and pressed their demands for political change. Since the June 4, 1989 military assault that killed hundreds, and possibly thousands, communist leaders have made many changes demanded by the dissidents, scrapping rules dictating where Chinese could work and whom they could marry. A decade of stunning economic growth has given millions new choices in life. But...

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has ordered officials to watch a new documentary on the Tiananmen Square demonstrations to persuade younger cadres that the 1989 army crackdown could not be avoided, government sources said on Thursday. The four-hour documentary has been shown to people holding a rank of ministry department director or higher since March in order to convince a new generation of government officials who may disagree with the government line on the June 3-4 massacre. "Young cadres need to watch it because many think the crackdown was unnecessary," said one government source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The...

During the six years I spent in prison after the Tiananmen massacre, much of it in solitary confinement, I had ample time to reflect on whether we -- the leaders of China's 1989 democracy movement -- made a mistake in encouraging the protests that culminated in the tragic events of June 4. Again and again I have asked myself if there was another path that could have avoided the bloodshed? Whether, by bringing students and other ordinary citizens on to the streets to confront the Communist leadership, we frustrated the plans of reformist leaders -- such as former Communist Party...

Hong Kongers March to Commemorate Killings of Tiananmen Square Activists Associated Press May 30, 2004 HONG KONG (AP) - Thousands of people marched through Hong Kong on Sunday to commemorate the killing of students by Chinese troops who broke up pro-democracy rallies in Tiananmen Square 15 years ago. The June 4, 1989 crackdown, in which Beijing used soldiers and tanks against the unarmed activists, shocked Hong Kong, then a British territory. Hong Kong reverted to China in 1997. "Chinese people will never forget this incident," said Thomas Ma, an unemployed 44-year-old. "Using guns to suppress defenseless people - you tell...

Hong Kong March Marks Tiananmen Killings 8 minutes ago HONG KONG - Thousands of people marched through Hong Kong on Sunday to commemorate the killing of students by Chinese troops who broke up pro-democracy rallies in Tiananmen Square 15 years ago. AP Photo The June 4, 1989 crackdown, in which Beijing used soldiers and tanks against the unarmed activists, shocked Hong Kong, then a British territory. Hong Kong reverted to China in 1997. "Chinese people will never forget this incident," said Thomas Ma, an unemployed 44-year-old. "Using guns to suppress defenseless people — you tell me whether it's right." Demonstrations...

China Detains Tiananmen Mothers Ahead of Festival, Anniversaries Radio Free Asia Mar 30, 2004     Veteran activist Szeto Wah speaks in front of the China Liaison office in Hong Kong about two mothers whose sons were killed during China's 1989 Tiananmen Massacre and a woman who lost her husband to the bloody crackdown who were detained by police ahead of a sensitive festival to remember the dead. Banner is asking for release of Zhang Xianling a mother of a Tiananmen victim. Photo Mike Clarke/AFP/Getty Images The Chinese authorities have detained two mothers whose sons were killed by People's Liberation Army...

Chinese Activist Released, Joins Another Dissident in Rhode Island Mar 5, 2004 By Brooke Donald / Associated Press Writer WARWICK, R.I. (AP) - An activist who helped organize the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests appeared stunned as he was hugged and given flowers after his arrival in Rhode Island to meet a fellow dissident. Wang Youcai, 37, a physicist, had been given medical parole and was released after six years in a southern China prison. He arrived at T.F. Green Airport in Warwick on Thursday night and said he was overwhelmed with his new freedom. "I'm not sure what exactly is...

<p>BEIJING — A laid-off Chinese worker set himself on fire in Tiananmen Square (search) in central Beijing early Wednesday on China's National Day and was hospitalized with injuries, the official Xinhua News Agency (search) said. The report said his motive was unknown.</p>

President Bush, please help us. Ali M., Iran (E-mail sent to the BBC News website by an Iranian protester) During a six-week period between November 17 and December 29, 1989, nonviolent protests swept through Czechoslovakia, bringing about the peaceful overthrow of the communist regime. The Velvet Revolution is the idyllic uprising: bloodless, courageous and popular. Unfortunately, it was also the exception. That same year, pro-democratic Chinese students took a similar peaceful approach in Tiananmen Square. The bloody suppression that followed shattered the freedom movement and drove dissent underground for those lucky enough to elude incarceration or execution. As pro-democracy protests...

History Repeats Itself In Photography... Although the pictures are not identical the images are similar. The threat to Communist Chinese control from both the SARS threat and the Tiananmen Square Freedom Movement are nearly identical in severity. The picture on the left of the child running in front of the masked PLA "security guards" reminded me so vividly of the man standing in front of the line of tanks on the right. If those don't see the immediate connection, I cannot explain why I had such a viceral connection between the two images in my mind except the Chinese people...

<p>It was really only with the astonishing televised events from China's Tiananmen Square, followed by the fall of the Berlin Wall and communism in Eastern Europe, that the world's people began to see that they were no longer operating as political and economic islands. Politics, currencies, trade, and yes, basic political values are all being drawn together into an evolving consensus of what constitutes a world order. The Saddam Husseins of the world would wreck this. Their piracy would constantly shatter and retard the aspirations of workers at all levels of the world's economic system."</p>

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-hong-kong-tiananmen0604jun04.story Hong Kong Activists Call for Freedom By ELAINE KURTENBACH Associated Press Writer June 4, 2002, 11:03 AM EDT HONG KONG -- Exercising freedoms denied to mainland Chinese, thousands of Hong Kong residents gathered Tuesday for a candlelight vigil to mark the 13th anniversary of the military crackdown on protests in Tiananmen Square. This year, World Cup soccer seemed to dominate the news, as fans abandoned offices, mahjong parlors, and theaters to see China lose to Costa Rica in a match that ended hours before the twilight ceremonies in leafy Victoria Park. In Beijing, where the regime suppresses all...

Chinese Airlines Serve PLA Military The Chinese army operates over 2,000 front companies inside the United States. Newly declassified documents from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) show that China United Airlines is a one such front company. China United Airlines is a most curious business. A Chinese air force general heads China United. China United aircraft also double as troop transports for the People's Liberation Army. Yet documents obtained from the Defense Intelligence Agency show that China United is allowed to do business inside the U.S. without question. The newly declassified documents from the Defense Intelligence Agency had the names...