President Tsai Ing-wen promises to defend democracy as Taiwan marks 30th anniversary of Tiananmen crackdown

Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Tuesday to safeguard democracy and freedom in Taiwan as activists held a memorial rally in Taipei to mark the 30th anniversary of the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in mainland China.

In a tweet addressed to “freedom-loving friends in Hong Kong and China”, Tsai said: “Rest assured that despite threats and subversion, Taiwan will unconditionally defend democracy and safeguard freedom.”

She continued: “As long as I am president, Taiwan will never bow to pressure.”

On Monday, Tsai received a group of exiled pro-democracy activists at her office in Taipei – an unprecedented move because the island’s leaders have previously been concerned that such a step could provoke Beijing.

The following day – the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown – the activists joined hundreds of pro-democracy supporters at a gathering at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, where a makeshift tank was placed outside in honour of “Tank Man” the unknown protester pictured staring down a line of tanks in Beijing in 1989.

Tsai, who has refused to accept the one-China principle since becoming the island’s leader in 2016, has come under pressure from Beijing, which considers the island a wayward province that must eventually be reunified with the mainland, by force if necessary.