China says Tiananmen crackdown was 'correct' | DW | 02.06.2019

The defense came days ahead of the 30th anniversary of the killings.Chinese Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe on Sunday defended the bloody crackdown on protesters Tiananmen Square  almost three decades after it took place.The response was a rare acknowledgment of the killings, which had followed seven weeks of protests in 1989 by students and workers calling for democracy and an end to corruption.Hundreds, possibly more than 1,000 people were killed when soldiers and tanks chased protesters and onlookers in the streets around the square. China won't rule out force on TaiwanIn his speech, Wei also said his country would not renounce the use of force over the reunification of Taiwan with the Chinese mainland."We will strive for the process of peaceful reunification with utmost sincerity and greatest efforts but we make no promise to renounce the use of force," Wei said.The general made the comments at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a three-day security summit in Singapore that brings together top defense representatives from around the world.The remarks came a day after acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan spoke at the same summit, warning China against threatening its neighbors' sovereignty.rc/ms (AFP, Reuters)Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. A Leica promotional video alluded to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, prompting an angry response from China just weeks ahead of the 30th anniversary.