June 5, 2020

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo at a press conference on June 4 criticized the Chinese leadership for failing to reflect on what it had done to protestors at the Tiananmen Square in Beijing 31 years ago.

Asked by reporters about the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, Shii said, "Immediately after the incident occurred, the JCP released a statement severely denouncing China as trampling on fundamental human rights and democracy. The statement read, 'It is absolutely unforgivable for China to violently crack down on peaceful demonstrations mainly by students.' To this day, the JCP stands firm on this position."

Shii also said that the JCP expressed the same thought to the Communist Party of China when normalizing relations with the CPC in 1998.

Shii pointed out that China, over the past decade, has come out as a human rights violator in Tibet, Hong Kong, and Uighur and as a hegemon in the East China Sea and the South China Sea. He added that the JCP, therefore, revised the party Program in its January Congress in order to sharply criticize China's hegemonic acts and human rights abuses.

Shii continued to say, "The Chinese leadership still doesn't reflect on the Tiananmen Square crackdown of 1989. It is attempting to silence criticism over the incident and erase the memory of the tragic event. The Tiananmen Square massacre is not just a thing of the past but is related to China's current problems."

Past related article:
> JCP: Tiananmen Square Incident has nothing to do with socialism [June 2, 2019]