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Hong Kong police rejected an application Monday by organizers for an annual candlelight vigil marking the anniversary this week of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, as residents rushed to apply for passports that could allow them to move to the United Kingdom It would be the first time in 30 years that the vigil, which draws a huge crowd to an outdoor space, is not held in Hong Kong. The vigil commemorates China's deadly military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. The decision follows a vote by China’s ceremonial parliament to bypass Hong Kong’s...

Not since the eve of the 1989 Tiananmen slaughter have we seen China’s communist regime more clearly girding to demolish a vibrant democracy movement. Thirty-one years ago, China’s Communist Party shut down democracy protesters in Beijing by shooting them in the streets. This time the CCP’s target is the former British colony of Hong Kong, where protesters turned out in huge numbers last year to defend the rights and freedoms that China promised them for at least 50 years after the 1997 British handover. Now, while the world grapples with the China-spawned coronavirus pandemic, China is preparing a national security...

See also: Joe Biden is too stupid to win the nomination (#2) The purported frontrunner of the Democrats' presidential field is certain to self-destruct before the Democratic National Convention votes on a nominee more than a year from now, because he loves to talk and is too stupid to avoid making fatal mistakes.  Exactly a month ago, I predicted he would not get the party's nod, and I stand by that.  But secretly, I hope I am wrong, because he would fall apart when faced with Donald Trump. The latest example of Biden's stupidity: downplaying China's threat to us on the 30th anniversary of...

Hongkongers gathered in record numbers, organisers said on Tuesday night, to mourn those who lost their lives in a bloody crackdown on democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China said well over 180,000 had attended the annual candlelight vigil, contrasting with last year’s 115,000. Police put the figure at 37,000 on Tuesday night and 17,000 in 2018. Public opposition to the government’s controversial extradition bill was expected to boost the turnout on the 30th anniversary of the tragedy which left hundreds, possibly more than 1,000, dead.

TAIPEI (AFP) - A former leader of the Tiananmen Square protests in China has lashed out at US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, whom he dubbed a "privileged comeback king", and warned America is at risk of abandoning its cherished freedoms. Wu'er Kaixi said he was speaking on behalf of Chinese democracy dissidents everywhere in condemning the provocative property magnate, who was criticised last week after describing the 1989 demonstration in Beijing as a "riot". "Speaking personally, after 27 years in exile from that 'riot'... I think I can speak for all fellow exiled and imprisoned Chinese in condemning Trump," Wu'er...

(トランプ氏の天安門事件「暴動」発言 謝罪求める声) (“Voices Now Demanding Apology from Trump Who Calls Tienanmen Massacre a “Riot”) (Translation from the original Japanese by FReeper AmericanInTokyo):”In the most recent TV debate between candidates for the Republican nomination for President in the USA, Mr. Trump referred to it as a “riot” (boudou: 暴動) when Chinese students stood up in Tienanmen Square and requested freedom, in Beijing, China in 1989. Real estate magnate Trump was answering a question from the moderator in the March 10 debate in Miami, with respect to the suppression of Chinese university students. They were only pleading for freedom but were...

I was born in Chengdu, China. When I was growing up, the Communist Party controlled everything. There were no choices of any sort. We were all poor except the elite. The local government rationed everything from pork to rice, sugar, and flour because there were not enough supplies. We were allowed only a kilogram of pork per month for our family of five. We lived in two rooms, without heat in the winter. I got impetigo during the cold, humid winters. There were eight families living around our courtyard, and we all had to share one bathroom (a hole in...

"Please remember June the Third, 1989. The most tragic event happened in the Chinese Capital, Beijing. Thousands of people, most of them innocent civilians, were killed by fully-armed soldiers when they forced their way into city. Among the killed are our colleagues at Radio Beijing. The soldiers were riding on armored vehicles and used machine guns against thousands of local residents and students who tried to block their way. When the army conveys made the breakthrough, soldiers continued to spray their bullets indiscriminately at crowds in the street. Eyewitnesses say some armored vehicles even crushed foot soldiers who hesitated in...

It was reported on TASS and a couple of other news sources (I am reading them in Japanese), that former Chinese Premier ZHAO ZIYANG has died in Beijing. If true, he would have been 84.If you recall, he was removed from power as he sided with the students during the 1989 Tienanmen Freedom uprising. There is a famous photo of him (above) addressing the young Chinese protestors with a little bullhorn, down in Tienanmen, before Deng Xiaoping ordered the tanks in. From Tass, and others. Breaking. (9:05 am Eastern time Wednesday)