Tiananmen : Commemorating the 26th Anniversary of the June Fourth [1989] Tragedy
Chinese Leaders Cannot Escape Their Historical Responsibility for the June Fourth Massacre
Tiananmen Mothers
At the request of the Tiananmen Mothers, Human Rights in China (HRIC) is issuing the following essay by the group to commemorate the victims of June Fourth on its 26th anniversary. Quoting Premier Li Keqiang’s March 2015 speech that Japan’s leaders today bear historical responsibility for Japan’s war of aggression in China in the 1930s: “the leaders of a state not only inherit their predecessors’ successes, but should also bear historical responsibility for their predecessors’ crimes,” the group asks: “By the same logic, shouldn’t today’s Chinese leaders bear responsibility for the series of crimes—manmade famine and slaughter—perpetrated in their own country by China’s leaders at the time: Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping?”