- President Joe Biden’s State Department issued a neutered version of its annual Tiananmen Square massacre remembrance message over the weekend ahead of meetings with top Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials in Beijing.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a statement Saturday marking the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, lauding the strength of the protesters who were slaughtered and promising to continue fighting for human rights in China and elsewhere. In 2022, however, the administration issued a lengthier, more forceful statement that bashed the CCP for current human rights abuses.
- This year’s statement makes no mention of Hong Kong, Xinjiang or Tibet and instead makes a single vague reference to fighting for human rights in China.
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State Dept Soft-Pedals Tiananmen Massacre In Annual Statement
FILE - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, shakes hands with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a meeting in Nusa Dua on the Indonesian resort island of Bali on July 9, 2022. In his comments at a security conference in Munich, Germany, Blinken said the United States has long been concerned that China would provide weapons to Russia and that “we have information that gives us concern that they are considering providing lethal support to Russia in the war against Ukraine.” That came a day after Blinken held talks with Wang in a meeting that offered little sign of a reduction in tensions or progress on the Ukraine issue. (Stefani Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP, File)
