In an annual statement, the U.S. State Department marked the 30th anniversary of China's June 4, 1989, Tiananmen crackdown with one of its most harsh criticisms to date, delivering a scathing assessment of the massacre and praising the "heroic protest movement" — a message that stood in stark contrast with Japan's own remarks addressing the bloody attack.
"We honor the heroic protest movement of the Chinese people that ended on June 4, 1989, when the Chinese Communist Party leadership sent tanks into Tiananmen Square to violently repress peaceful demonstrations calling for democracy, human rights, and an end to rampant corruption," U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in the statement released Monday.
Markedly longer than the 2017 and 2018 versions, the statement was released just days after the Tiananmen incident was described by a State Department spokeswoman as "a full-on massacre of peaceful protesters" and came as the U.S. and China continue to trade blows over regional security issues and an increasingly contentious trade war.