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Mike Pompeo meets survivors of 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown

Mike Pompeo meets survivors of 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown

Pompeo

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met thesurvivors of theTiananmen Square crackdownin a closed-door meeting at the State Department headquarters in Washington.

The survivors,Wang Dan, Su Xiaokang, Liane Lee and Henry Li were a part of theTiananmen Square pro-democracy protest which took place 31 years ago.

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Wang, 51, said he called on the Trump administration to raise issues around human rights, such as improving labour laws and relaxing internet regulations, in negotiations of any phase two trade agreement with Beijing.

The State Department offered no details on what was discussed but said in a statement: ''We mourn the victims of June 4, 1989, and we stand with the people of China who continue to aspire to a government that protects human rights, fundamental freedoms and basic human dignity.''

''Thirty-one years later, the total number of missing or dead Tiananmen protesters is still unknown,''State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in the statement, released shortly after the anniversary arrived in China. ''We reiterate our call for a full, public accounting of those killed or missing.''

Growing out of public grief over the death of liberal icon Hu Yaobang, weeks-long protests calling for democratic reform in 1989 came to a brutal end when Chinese tanks rolled through Beijing to put down the unrest by force. The incident remains a highly sensitive subject for the Chinese government to this day.