Remembering Tiananmen Square

Today is the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. For weeks, thousands of Chinese students had been protesting in Tiananmen Square demanding more freedom.

The communist regime had declared martial law in late May, and on the evening of June 3, 1989, Chinese soldiers began operations to end the demonstrations.  As the Soviet Union was in the process of liberalizing, Beijing's dictators doubled down on their brutality.  Hundreds or even thousands were slaughtered in Tiananmen Square.  

Just as we will likely never know the full truth about what happened at the Wuhan lab, we will never know the full truth of what happened in Tiananmen Square.

I recall this history because it is a good reminder of what we are dealing with in communist China today.  Sadly, I have no doubt that if tens of thousands of students rallied in Tiananmen Square for more freedom today the results would be the same.  

This is an oppressive communist regime that is engaged in genocide. It does not share our interests or our values.

At the time, there were all kinds of predictions that the Tiananmen Square protests would cause communist China to unravel, just as the communist bloc in Eastern Europe was unraveling. 

China was much weaker then. We could have applied serious pressure. But as time passed, we went back to chasing the "almighty dollar," and communist China became a major world power. 

We've heard over and over that communist China has no territorial ambitions, but that's all it's doing now. From India to Australia, Japan to Vietnam, Beijing is threatening its neighbors and expanding its influence, even telling us that the U.S. Navy has no right to traverse the seas. 

And why not? 

The butchers of Beijing got away with the Tiananmen Square massacre. They got away with seizing Hong Kong. Almost immediately after communist China violated the treaty it made over Hong Kong's sovereignty, it was "back to business as usual." The world shrugs as communist China suppresses free speech, oppresses religious liberty and commits genocide against ethnic minorities.

But as I have repeatedly argued, trade with communist China has not changed communist China. It has changed us.

I'm proud of the fact that I aggressively fought communist China's influence in America and spoke up for Chinese dissidents in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square massacre. And I will continue to do so.