TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The DPP criticized the Chinese Communist Party in a statement on Thursday, the 37th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre.
On that historic day, many Chinese citizens and students took to the streets across the country to pursue democratic freedoms and political reform, the DPP said. However, the Chinese government used military force to suppress the movement.
Thirty-seven years later, the CCP still has not addressed the massacre, the DPP said. “It is deeply regrettable that the Chinese government has not only refused to acknowledge this historical wrongdoing but has instead intensified its authoritarian control and surveillance over its people,” the party said.
The DPP said that the CCP’s censorship and surveillance have led to “a worsening human rights situation in China.” It cited the case of Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai (黎智英), who was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The party also highlighted China's use of national security laws and other tools in Hong Kong, Tibet, and Xinjiang “to suppress democracy, violate human rights, impose comprehensive surveillance, and enforce forced assimilation.” The DPP said these actions run counter to universal values and “constitute a serious affront to global civilization.”
The DPP said that in the face of the CCP’s intensifying and expanding authoritarianism, Taiwan must defend its democratic freedoms and reject Beijing’s united-front agenda of “peaceful reunification.” It stressed that Taipei will protect its identity and prevent “democratic Taiwan” from being unilaterally transformed into “China’s Taiwan.”
