Suga Avoids Using Word "Massacre" for Tiananmen Square Incident

Tokyo, June 3 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga avoided using the words "military crackdown" and "massacre" for the so-called Tiananmen Square incident, at a press conference on Monday, the day before the 30th anniversary of the incident. The top government spokesman avoided a direct comment when asked whether Chinese authorities conducted a military crackdown or massacre in the incident. He instead repeated the government line set out after the incident by the administration of then Prime Minister Sousuke Uno that there is no choice but to say it is truly regrettable that a clash resulting from the use of force by the military led to the sad situation in which many lives were lost. The June 4, 1989, incident, in which Chinese troops fired on pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square in Beijing, was described by a U.S. Department of State spokeswoman on Thursday as "a full-on massacre of peaceful protesters." The Chinese Foreign Ministry lashed back at the statement, calling it baseless criticism and interference in domestic affairs. END