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Dalai Lama honours Tiananmen victims

Tibet Sun

The Dalai Lama seen in a 16 April 2009 file photo taken in Dharamshala, India. He paid tribute to those killed during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989 in China, and urged its leaders to review the events of 4 June 1989.File photo/Tibet Sun/Lobsang Wangyal/India

The Dalai Lama paid tribute to those killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, and urged the Chinese government to review the cause of the events.

“I respectfully honour those who died expressing the popular demand for the government to be more accountable to its people,” the Dalai Lama said in a statement published on his website.

The Dalai Lama, who is currently touring Europe, said that the students involved in the Tiananmen Square movement were neither anti-communist nor anti-socialist. “Their speaking out in defence of the Chinese people’s constitutional rights, in favour of democracy, and taking a stand against corruption, truly conformed to the underlying beliefs of the Chinese Communist government.”

He said the forthcoming 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China presents a “great opportunity” to review the events of 4 June 1989.

With all the great changes that have taken place in China since 1989, it is poised to become a superpower. However, the Dalai Lama said, “It is my hope that the Chinese leaders have the courage and far-sightedness to embrace more truly egalitarian principles and pursue a policy of greater accommodation and tolerance of diverse views.”

Although the exact number of deaths in the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown is not known, international humanitarian groups put the death figure at 2600. The Chinese government’s figure is 241 dead, including soldiers.

Copyright © 2009 Tibet Sun

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