Government reactions to George Floyd protests, Tiananmen Square not ‘morally equivalent’, says US state department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus

Name: Asian-Americans in New York among those joining US protests after George Floyd’s death
Uploaded: 2020-06-04T21:50:11.000Z
Duration: 3 min 30 s
Description: Asian-Americans in New York among those joining US protests after George Floyd’s death

In recent days, Chinese officials, social media users and state media have accused the US administration of applying a double standard

Ortagus responds to a provocative tweet by Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying: ‘It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad’

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A man faces military police near the White House to protest against the death of George Floyd. Photo: AFP

Mark Magnier

Published: 5:50am, 5 Jun 2020Updated: 12:09am, 6 Jun 2020

Chinese comparisons of actions by US authorities during the recent American protests with Beijing’s crackdown on Chinese students three decades ago are seriously misguided, the state department’s top spokeswoman said on Thursday.

“What we saw in Tiananmen Square 31 years ago was a massacre, a massacre of innocent people that came from Hong Kong but also Chinese people to protest,” Morgan Ortagus said in an interview on the anniversary of the June 4 crackdown in the heart of Beijing.

“We have the right to peacefully assemble in the United States,” she said. “It’s important that we not, especially in the West, not try to have moral equivalency for things that are just not morally equivalent.”

During the interview, Ortagus also commented on Britain’s offer of possible citizenship, her tit-for-tat tweets with a Chinese “wolf warrior” diplomat and the erosion of autonomy signalled by Hong Kong’s decision not to allow a Tiananmen vigil this year.

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Asian-Americans in New York among those joining US protests after George Floyd’s death

In recent days, Chinese officials, social media users and state media have accused the US administration of applying a double standard. They say the US has no right to condemn China’s 1989 Tiananmen student crackdown and those more recently involving Hong Kong demonstrators even as US President Donald Trump has called on governors to “dominate” their cities and pledged to “quickly solve the problem” of unrest with military forces.

For over a week, dozens of US cities have seen at times violent protests and looting following the death of African-American George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota as frustration has welled up after generations of discrimination and inequity.