US and China clash over 36th anniversary of Tiananmen Square massacre

On the 36th anniversary of the deadly attack on pro-democracy demonstrators in China’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989, jabs exchanged between Washington and Beijing highlight the continued disconnect between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Western democratic values. 

In a statement Tuesday evening, which was Wednesday morning local time in China, Secretary of State Marco Rubio released a statement that said, “the world will never forget” the CCP’s brutal actions as it “actively tries to censor the facts.”

“Today we commemorate the bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms,” Rubio said. “Their courage in the face of certain danger reminds us that the principles of freedom, democracy, and self-rule are not just American principles. They are human principles the CCP cannot erase.”

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A student protester puts barricades in the path of a burning armored personnel carrier that rammed through student lines during an army attack on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, June 4, 1989. (AP Photo/Jeff Widener)

But the Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday clapped back at Rubio and accused him of “maliciously distort[ing]” historical facts. 

Chinese spokesman Lin Jian said Rubio had “seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs,” and said Beijing had lodged a formal complaint with the U.S.

A Beijing demonstrator blocks the path of a tank convoy along the Avenue of Eternal Peace near Tiananmen Square in June 1989. (Archive Photos/Getty Images)

The 36th anniversary marks the day Chinese authorities deployed the People’s Liberation Army to stop a weeks-long student-led demonstration that called for greater political freedoms.

Lights dot a banner that commemorates the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, using the number 8964, which indicates the date of the incident as a means of bypassing Chinese censorship. (Michael Saul Garber)

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Tanks opened fire on unarmed crowds of pro-democracy demonstrators.

The extent of the massacre remains unknown, though hundreds were believed to have been killed, with some estimates ranging as high as 1,000 civilian deaths.

The CCP has since sought to cover up the crackdown by refusing to publicly acknowledge the tragedy, scrubbing online references and barring media coverage of the event.

Police officers stand at the fence in front of Tiananmen Square, the site of a massacre 36 years ago, on June 4, 2025, in Beijing. (Johannes Neudecker/picture alliance via Getty Images)

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The communist leadership has acknowledged the anniversary by routinely ramping up security at the square, as well as the entrance to Wan’an Cemetery, where some of the victims of the attack were laid to rest, reported AFP.

Images of security forces lining Tiananmen Square again surfaced on Wednesday, though the square stood relatively empty.