In The Asian Wall Street Journal (16 March 2005), Wu’er Kaixi, a Tiananmen student leader, and is now exiled in Taiwan, writes, “in the standoff between the United States and Europe over lifting the Tiananmen Massacre arms embargo on China, I find myself on the side of George W. Bush, even if my reasons for being there differ from his. President Bush’s interests are, of course, those of the world’s leading superpower. Mine are those of a Chinese student leader who, after more than 15 years in exile, is still waiting to be allowed to go home.”
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“In short, whatever the strategic aims of its China policy, in terms of my personal engagement with the Chinese government, Europe’s position is morally flawed and intellectually absurd. I may not have
the advantage of a European education, but I say that when the Europeans tell us that one plus one do not equal two, that the advanced weapons it has for sale will never be turned on the Taiwanese people, I say they are wrong. When the Europeans tell us it’s time to forget Tiananmen, I say I am sorry but until I hear an apology I cannot even begin to forget. And when the Europeans say, China has improved, I say, does that mean I can return to my homeland and visit my ageing parents without going to jail? ”
