Beijing: On the 36th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, Beijing denounced comments made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a “malicious distortion” of history and an attack on China’s political system.

In a strongly worded response, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said Rubio’s remarks amounted to interference in China’s domestic matters. “The erroneous statements by the US side maliciously distort historical facts, deliberately attack China's political system and developmental path, and seriously interfere in China's internal affairs,” Lin said during a regular press briefing.

“We are strongly dissatisfied and have lodged a solemn protest with the US side,” he added.

Rubio, in a statement marking the anniversary, said, “The world will never forget what happened on June 4,” criticising Beijing for continuing efforts to censor facts surrounding the crackdown. “Today, we commemorate the bravery of the Chinese people who were killed as they tried to exercise their fundamental freedoms, as well as those who continue to suffer persecution,” Rubio noted.

China’s communist leadership has long sought to erase the events of June 4, 1989, when troops and tanks forcibly cleared Tiananmen Square of peaceful demonstrators calling for political reform. While the official death toll remains unknown, rights groups and eyewitness accounts suggest that hundreds — possibly over a thousand — people were killed.

Spokesperson Lin reaffirmed the Chinese government's long-standing stance on the 1989 protests, stating that “the political turmoil of the late 1980s has long had a clear conclusion.”

The exchange adds to growing tensions between the US and China over human rights, with Beijing consistently rejecting Western criticism as ideological interference.
(With AFP inputs)