Posted on 03/14/2016 3:30:20 PM PDT by AmericanInTokyo
TAIPEI (AFP) - A former leader of the Tiananmen Square protests in China has lashed out at US presidential hopeful Donald Trump, whom he dubbed a "privileged comeback king", and warned America is at risk of abandoning its cherished freedoms.
Wu'er Kaixi said he was speaking on behalf of Chinese democracy dissidents everywhere in condemning the provocative property magnate, who was criticised last week after describing the 1989 demonstration in Beijing as a "riot".
"Speaking personally, after 27 years in exile from that 'riot'... I think I can speak for all fellow exiled and imprisoned Chinese in condemning Trump," Wu'er wrote in a commentary posted on his official Facebook page.
"I am not alone in appealing to the very same Americans who offered Chinese such as myself refuge when our own government deserted us to put aside partisan disputes and unite against Trump," the activist said.
In a televised exchange, Republican frontrunner Trump was quizzed about his 1990 comments on the student-led protests and subsequent government crackdown that costs hundreds, possibly thousands, of lives, in which he referred to "the power of strength".
Speaking on CNN, Trump insisted he was not endorsing the Chinese Communist Party's brutal response, which saw the military brought in to crush the protests.
"I said that is a strong, powerful government that put it down with strength," he said.
"And then they kept down the riot. It was a horrible thing. It doesn't mean at all I was endorsing it."
Wu'er lived in the US after fleeing China in the aftermath of the protests, but has resided in Taiwan for the past two decades.
He has tried to return to China on several occasions, but has been denied entry each time.
The Communist Party today under President Xi Jinping continues to block any activists advocating democratic reforms, and has tightened its grip on the media.
"Politically, in China, nothing has changed - if anything it has become worse in recent years," Wu'er said.
"Trump, a privileged comeback king from a litany of failed fast-buck business scams, is an enemy of the values that America deeply defines itself by: the same values that have long provided hope to the victims of oppressive power worldwide.
"Those of us who have fought for freedom anywhere in the world worry that something is about to change in America."
© 2016 AFP
http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1924569/tiananmen-dissident-wuer-kaixi-condemns-trump-enemy-american-values
"Tiananment Dissident Wu'er Kaixi Condemns Trump As Enemy of American Values"
Tell that douchebag, Wu’er Kaixi, that he is taking jobs away from American rioters.
What a shame that he suffered so much and yet learned nothing.
Hillary would roast you alive on a stick and serve you as an appetizer to the Chinese ambassador, you fool.
It’s all Trump’s fault.
How many survivors have we ever heard from ? Just wondering .
How President Reagan dealt with the Berkeley protesters in 1969
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpg0UfpuUAs
How President Reagan dealt with the Berkeley protesters in 1969
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bpg0UfpuUAs
He should have offered them his mic and calmly debated them. His powers of persuasion would have won them over.
Fellow student democracy dissident-in-China at the time and top leader Wang Dan, also in exile in the USA as I recall, joined Wu’er this week in addressing Trump’s Miami comments which had riled up not a few people.
Not necessarily, Jim.
First, that statement did trouble me. It was bizarre.
But I either let it go or let it drive me crazy trying to figure it out. I let it go. Just like I did with Ted on ten different things before his disaster response on Chicago.
Second, he’s not a person of failed quick buck money schemes.
He’s worth, at least, 4 billion. AT LEAST.
sure he started with 200 million.
I could throw out TEN names without blinking that were handed 100k to a million to go the trading floor and were out in a month.
I could name another dozen that lost a lot more than that.
Half of those over 15 million.
I was a compliance analyst for the commodities exchange.
Everything thinks making a lot of money into a WHOLE LOT more is easy. it’s not.
he’s a GOOD businessman. And I’ve worked with Managing Directors at THREE major investment banks.
He was well respected in business.
Right now, there is one nation I am concerned about.
It isn’t domestic China.
It’s the United States.
After looking at the other nincompoops running this year, Trump outshines every one of them.
I happen to thing the people in Tiananmen Square were patriots trying to bring peaceful change to China. I do not agree with anyone saying negative things about them.
We have but one nation. We either stand up and defend it, or we have nothing. And if we have nothing, guess what people standing in a square half-way around the world we can’t help.
The Chinese.
This righteous indignation is sorely misplaced.
The protesters in Tienanmen square were not wanting a representative government but a less corrupt and oppressive socialist government. I applaud their stance as a step in the right direction but most of them did not have any idea what a free society looks like. Many of them wanted the government to do more for them not less. That was their idea of liberty
Trump’s statement about the PRC putting down a “riot” was wrong and he should be criticized for it. But what happened there should that protest be called a “pro-democracy” movement
BTW I lived in China for 15 years.
He has worked hard, of that there can be no doubt, yes.
We do revolutions better.
Ridiculous overreaction to a tired Trump’s throwaway comment. As if China is ever going to have democracy anyway.
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