This week marks the 29th anniversary of the Tiananmen Massacre. Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who's also the Chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China while being on the U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, teamed up with Representative Chris Smith, the co-Chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, to call for an end on sanctions on the protestors and on the export controls they have on American technology.
In a statement, Rubio explained that "Tiananmen Square Massacre’s anniversary reminds us that the fundamental human yearning for dignity and basic rights is not limited to any one region or country. Outrage over the Chinese government and Communist Party’s brutal response to the protestors’ legitimate and peaceful demands for democratic reform reverberated internationally, most notably behind the Iron Curtain where pro-democracy movements rapidly grew in the wake of the crackdown, inspired by the bravery of the students, workers, and other ordinary people who gathered in cities across China that spring. China’s Communist Party weathered cosmic geopolitical shifts over the following years that saw the collapse of the Soviet Union, and has emerged today richer and more powerful while the Chinese people remain unfree. "
He also added that "As we reflect on the unfulfilled aspirations of over a million Chinese citizens who gathered in the square and across China 29 years ago, I call on the Chinese government to allow free and open discourse surrounding the events of that spring, to unconditionally release those detained or imprisoned for attempting to commemorate the anniversary, and to reckon publicly with the horrific violence against the Chinese people at the hands of the party and the military. As reports of the Chinese government’s ongoing rights abuses and increasingly sophisticated surveillance regime continue to emerge, I urge American corporations to be clear-eyed that any technology or crime control equipment that they sell to Chinese security forces and police, may be used or abused to further repression, surveillance, detention or other abuses.”
