Commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protests 35 Years Later

Amid student protests in North American and European universities, one may forget East Asia's own indigenous tradition of student dissent and remonstrance. It started with China's May 4th Movement of 1919. On June 4, 2024, citizens around East Asia, and the world, shall commemorate the 35th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests.

In 1989, I supported the protests first-hand as a high school senior in Cerritos, California. My school included many ethnic Chinese and other students inspired by the protests. Encouraged by the democracy protests in the Philippines (22-25 February 1986) and South Korea (June 1987, 6월 민주 항쟁), we initially felt confident that China would be the next nation to democratize. We collected and delivered a petition signed by over a hundred students to the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles. It was an event captured by local television.

But the Tiananmen protests ended in tragedy. At least a thousand Beijing citizens and students died. Thousands more were imprisoned in a nationwide crackdown, and public discussion of the event was banned.

Still, the 1989 protests continue to energize new generations to a never-ending struggle for free speech and other fundamental freedoms around the world. They helped instill in me a lifelong commitment to individual liberty, sometimes enduring hostile public opinion to do so.

Opening Door to Academic Debate

In 2022, I co-founded Heterodox East Asia, a community of Heterodox Academy. Through it, I and other members continually advocate for academic freedom and open public debate on sensitive issues.

In this year's April 5 China forum, participants shared their thoughts in the live webinar and the public comments doc.

The webinar featured Kevin Carrico of Monash University, formerly of Hong Kong's Apple Daily. It also brought in Catherine Yeung, a Perth-based researcher on China's subnational influence in Australia, and Joseph Terwilliger of Columbia University (Neurobiology).

Kevin Carrico discussed the recent visit of American business and academic elites to Beijing from March 26-27. Harvard's Professor Graham Allison was among them.

Exposing the China Pandering

In the webinar, Carrico criticized their tendency to genuflect to China's leaders:

Visiting elites were shown on China Central Television diligently taking notes as if each word that emerged from Xi's lips was a priceless nugget of wisdom that needed to be recorded for all eternity and referred to for future guidance…. Allison also reportedly said to Xi, "For many years I've studied your thoughts, speeches, your press releases and talks."

[In fact,] Allison's behavior is emblematic of a particular approach to the study of China. Seeing the country exclusively through the eyes of its leaders, placing itself in the position of learning from them as listeners and notetakers, taking their words to be truth, treating ideological slogans [with] harmony, raising, socialism with Chinese characteristics.

[They were] treating these slogans that are divorced from reality, as if they actually had some type of meaning. Holding onto faith in a system that deserves no such faith, while of course avoiding raising any so-called "sensitive topics" that might deviate from the party's predetermined narrative and would thus lead one to be shunned.

Allison's visit was representative of the way that many Senior University leaders experience China: fly in for a few days, stay at a five-star hotel, have some banquets with officials, some fancy tea, and maybe some Mai Tai. "China is the future, right, and we need more exchange cooperation and intertwinement. And if it just so happens that we can make a lot of money in the process, well, that's just a convenient side effect."

*Reporters and police gathered in front of the court where pro-democracy activists were held for violating the Hong Kong National Security Law. On May 30 in Hong Kong. (©Kyodo)*

Hong Kong's National Security Law

Catherine Yeung discussed the recent expansion of Hong Kong's National Security Law (NSL). Responding to the 2019 student protests, the Beijing-influenced Hong Kong government passed the NSL. The law criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces, to effectively crack on the protests. Then on March 23, 2024, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee signed Article 23. This new provision criminalizes additional activities, allows for closed-door trials, and gives the police the right to detain suspects for up to 16 days without charge.

Yeung lamented the loss of civil liberties from her childhood in Hong Kong:

I remember we could criticize all governments, including the Hong Kong government. During the colonial time [pre-1997], there were so many newspapers and people, speaking on the radio, whatever you[they] could. [You could] criticize the government to your heart's content. There would be no consequences as long as you're not inciting violence.

But this has all changed now with the implementation of Article 23. The new National Security Law obliges Chinese citizens to notify police if they know that another person has committed or is about to commit [an NSL-related crime]. Failure to do so is punishable by up to years in prison.

[For professors supervising Hong Kong or Chinese students] This practically imposes an obligation on your Chinese student or student from Hong Kong to spy on fellow classmates. It is likely to increase the existing climate of fear among students and prevent them from freely expressing opinions in group discussions or presentations, and also in their assignments.

Advocacy of 'Soft Power' Friendships

Columbia genetics Professor Joseph Terwilliger did not dispute the lack of freedoms in China. But after living and researching for many years in China and North Korea, Terwilliger argued:

For people in science fields, there's a lot of benefit from interaction with the Chinese… I'm a firm believer that we need more interaction with China. The more students come here [to the US], the more of us [Americans] go there [China], the better. Even if things aren't perfect, it's still at least something….

I met one of the North Korean ambassadors who used to be in New York and he's now in Europe. I met him in Europe and he said, "I miss New York. People were friendly and you could get a good steak there. So there are things that you get from American soft power and Western soft power just by being there and being friendly and getting along with people.

Student Perspectives

I also asked a few high school and college students to share their experiences and perspectives. High school student Gerald Han forcefully defended the liberties of Chinese companies (TikTok) to operate in America. Likewise, he defended the right of Chinese youth to understand the past in China.

[US] Congress' decision to force TikTok to sell itself is a horrible idea driven by anti-Chinese sentiment and paranoia. TikTok is used by millions of Americans. And [it] is one of only [a few] major links between the United States and China…. When the congressman suggested that the Chinese Communist Party could have access to some of the data TikTok gathers on its users, I asked my friends about that. They also said they didn't really care about that.

I think Chinese youth should have an understanding of what happened at Tiananmen Square. [That is] because knowing China's history allows them to know a part of China's authentic history. As well, they get to know how it isn't the country the government wants to paint it as. As time passes, it's important that we don't forget the events of Tiananmen Square so we can avoid repeating history.

Defending the Chinese's government supervision of the media, however, one Chinese student wrote, "The majority of citizens do not have the ability to distinguish between fake and real news. Therefore, it must be reviewed in publications and social media."

TikTok and the Free Expression of Ideas

The diversity of viewpoints and vigorous debate on the US's proposed TikTok ban demonstrated the ideals of free speech and open discourse championed by the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Our forum was one way to commemorate all those in the past, who contributed to the struggle for freedom.

Members of the public are welcome to add their names to endorse HEAC's statement on the 35th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and/or to write comments.

The public is also welcome to view our China webinar and comment.

Author: Joseph Yi, with Gerald Han

Joseph Yi (PhD, University of Chicago) is an associate professor of political science at Hanyang University. He can be contacted via email: joyichicago@yahoo.com

Gerald Han (Sunny Hills High School, CA) helped prepare this article, by recording and posting the webinar on YouTube, and by transcribing the speakers.