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President hopes for human rights improvement in China

ROC Central News Agency

2012/06/04 14:56:15

Taipei, June 4 (CNA) President Ma Ying-jeou issued a statement Monday to mark the 23rd anniversary of China's 1989 Tiananmen massacre in which he expressed hope that China will improve its human rights and democratic development.

For more than two decades, China's economy has grown rapidly and the people's lives have greatly improved, while the country has become increasingly competitive, Ma said.

However, the emotional scars left by the massacre that took place June 4, 1989 have yet to heal and the incident has given the international community an impression of China's human rights development that has stayed pretty much unchanged since then, the president said.

"Most ethnic Chinese societies believe that China today is moremature and in a better position to transform into a more diverse and open democratic society. Dealing with the trauma of the 'June 4th Incident' could be the first step toward political reform," he said.

According to Ma, Taiwanese and Chinese people are all of Chinese origin and share the same cultural heritage, including advanced concepts of freedom, democracy and human rights.

"We once again reiterate that we cherish the peace created by the two sides over the past four years and hope that the positive interaction will continue," Ma added.

However, Taiwan and China still differ in human rights development, and these differences will need to be overcome before the two sides can enter a deeper phase of interaction, Ma went on.

Taiwan's experience in becoming a democratic society has proved that democracy can take root and grow in a Chinese culture, Ma said.

The president said he has great hopes for improvements in human rights and democracy in China and that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait can begin dialogue in the fields of democratic rule and human rights protection, with the shared culture between Taiwan and China as a foundation.

Ma also said he will continue to express concern for democratic development in China, which he described as the best way to help reduce the psychological distance between the people of the two sides.

Meanwhile, presidential spokesman Fan Chiang Tai-chi said later that day that the president remains consistent in his attitude toward the Tiananmen massacre.

The spokesman was responding to local media reports that Ma did not say anything concerning "redressing the wrongs of the June 4th Incident" as he did in a statement he made last year, and that he appeared less critical this year of the brutal mass killings by the Chinese government.

Is "dealing with the trauma and promoting political reform" not the content and purpose of "redressing the wrongs?" the spokesman asked.

(By Kelvin Huang and Kendra Lin)