Observations on the Anniversary of the June 4th Incident
Today marks the 21st anniversary of the June 4th Incident in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
We remember this date in history, just as we remember unfortunate chapters in Taiwan's past, including the February 28th Incident in 1947 and the White Terror of the 1950s. We earnestly hope that the mainland China authorities will learn a lesson from our experience in Taiwan, and take an unblinking look at what happened during the June 4th Incident. We call upon them to learn a lesson from this historically significant human rights incident, and to ensure that it is never repeated. We also hope that they will take the steps necessary to redress the pain and injustice suffered by the victims and their families.
From the perspective of history, when conflict between a government and its people ends in bloodshed, it is the government that must take principal responsibility, for it is the government that wields the power of the state. A government depends for its very existence on the people's trust. When a government turns its weaponry against the people, it is not just the people who are injured. The bond of trust between the people and the government is also harmed, and takes a long time to repair, so any government dealing with this sort of problem must face the matter with courage. Maximum patience and forbearance are the tools it must use in rebuilding trust.
We are all ethnically Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, so it follows that we should be supportive of each other, and work together in a spirit of sincerity. Human rights issues have attracted much criticism from abroad, to be sure, but the mainland China authorities have elevated Chinese culture back to a position of importance, and have worked hard to grow their economy and improve the people's lives. These developments have left a deep impression on the people of Taiwan. Cross-strait relations have taken a turn for the better in the past two years, and tensions have been greatly reduced. This welcome change has been very well received by the people on both sides of the strait, and by the international community, as well.
Given the unprecedented set of historical circumstances in which we now find ourselves, we hope to see the mainland Chinese authorities adopt an unprecedented new approach to human rights. They need to display robust good faith and self-confidence in moving one step at a time to resolve the problems left behind by major human rights incidents of the past. They also need to treat dissidents with greater lenience. This would help foster greater trust among the people of mainland China in their governing authorities and, in the area of human rights, would inevitably go far toward narrowing the gap between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait. What is more, it would convince people throughout the world that the rise of mainland China contributes not only to the cause of peace, but is also a positive development from the standpoint of the universal values of freedom, democracy, and human rights.