Only Beijing can heal people’s June 4 Tiananmen pain, says Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen

Taiwan’s new president has urged Beijing to give its people greater rights on the 27th anniversary of the June 4 crackdown against 1989 pro-democracy protests.

“As a president, I’m not finger-pointing at the political system on the mainland, but sincerely sharing the experience of the democratisation of Taiwan,” Tsai Ing-wen, who took up office in May, said on Saturday in her first statement about the crackdown.

“If the mainland could give the people more rights, the world would pay it more respect.”

She said it could be “seen by all eyes” that the Chinese people were having a higher standard of living while facing the pressure of political and social transformation.