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Taipei, Taiwan — Thirty-five years after the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre captured the attention of a shocked world, the children of two victims of China’s 1989 violent crackdown against democracy honor their parents’ legacies. Zhang Hongyuan, 25, is currently in the Netherlands seeking political asylum. He fled there in April 2023, after authorities in Wuhan of China's Hubei province, threatened to arrest him for his public-interest activism. His advocacy followed the footsteps of his father, Zhang Yi, who was arrested 35 years ago when Chinese authorities put an end to public democratic rallies in Tiananmen Square and in many cities on June 4, 1989. He was then jailed for two years. Zhang Hongyuan had started a career as a field engineer at the Dapu Power Plant in Meizhou city in Guangdong province. But he found himself on a different path in 2020, when he helped his father spread the word in Wuhan about the outbreak of COVID-19. Later that year, he worked as a translator for a documentary by dissident visual artist Ai Weiwei. In 2022, Zhang Hongyuan recorded video footage in China of public protests against strict pandemic-related mass civilian lockdowns. His involvement in the White Paper Movement, as the citizens’ public expressions against the lockdowns became known, and another dissident, Yang Min's, act of seeking asylum abroad prompted him to flee China on short notice 15 months ago. Grace Fang, now 23, immigrated to the U.S. at age eight. She did not learn until she turned 11 or 12 that her father, Zheng Fang, had his legs crushed by a Chinese military tank during the Tiananmen Square violence. Grace Fang graduated in 2023 from Wellesley College in Massachusetts. Last June, she helped host a San Francisco Bay area event remembering the crackdown. The Chinese government refers to the events at Tiananmen Square in June 1989 as a "counterrevolutionary riot" and downplays its severity. In China, discussion of the event in media or textbooks of the event is largely forbidden. The authorities regularly harass those at home or overseas who seek to keep the memory of the events alive. Zhang Hongyuan told VOA he was raised in China by his father and forced to mature early, especially after Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping came to power in 2012. Zhang Hongyuan said authorities began to tighten control over the dissidents of the “1989 generation,” which included his father, Zhang Yi. Frequent police surveillance, house searches and detention had an effect on Zhang Yi, which in turn had an effect on his son. "When I was a minor, other people's fathers went to the police station to pick up their sons, but I was a son who went to pick up my father. I did this a lot," Zhang Hongyuan said. "It was precisely these things that prompted me to realize the inhuman side of totalitarian rule at a young age," he said, adding that it gave him the courage to echo the boy on bike during the Tiananmen movement, whose words became famous, and say, "It’s my duty and I have to do something." Zhang Yi was in Wuhan in 1989 and was attending public rallies in support of students nationwide when he was arrested on June 4. Zhang Yi spent two years in prison, convicted of assembling a crowd to disrupt traffic during that mid-1989 period of democratic expression. "There was a big black spot on my father's back,’’ Zhang Hongyuan said. “He showed it to me when I was in junior high school and said it was caused by the beating by the guards, as well as the humid environment in the detention center. From that time on, I really began to understand June 4." About 15 years ago, Zheng Fang and his daughter, Grace Fang immigrated to the U.S. He is now the president of the China Democracy Education Foundation in San Francisco. Zheng Fang said he is proud that all his three daughters, including Grace who studied American environmental politics and earned a college degree, have a clear understanding of the Chinese Communist government. He told VOA that while Grace Fang has grown up to be an American, she understands the June 4 massacre first-hand and how China's repression had impacted the Chinese people including her family. Grace Fang told VOA that she admires her father, who is a ‘’hero’’ for standing publicly with the democratic movement in China in June 1989. But as someone who has fewer ties with China now, she can only help translate for her father during talks and presentations at which he shares his experience in China opposing state intimidation. She said that while she is angered by what happened to her father, she has hope for the Chinese to have a better future. "Although this historical event [June 4] was very cruel and the government was wrong in many ways, and the human rights situation [in China] was definitely not good, I no longer have hatred, and I just feel sad [about the truth] because I still hope that the Chinese people can have a better future," Grace Fang told VOA. She said it is important that young Chinese are aware of recent history in China, especially about the Tiananmen Square period, because they have the right to know the truth about their country and government.   With hope, she said, that young Chinese in the future should have the opportunity to participate in their country’s social and political affairs and promote a more open and free China. Adrianna Zhang from VOA's Mandarin Service contributed to this story.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Los Angeles — How does it feel for Mick Jagger to be back on tour singing, dancing and strutting across stadium concert stages at 80 years old? "Like being on stage at 78," the Rolling Stones frontman, who has thrilled audiences for more than six decades, said a day after playing a packed show outside Boston. "It took a couple of shows to get into the groove, but now we're into it," Jagger said. "I'm feeling good." He sang "What a drag it is getting old," back in the 1960s. But Jagger, who turns 81 on July 26, is still having a blast and has no plans to stop rocking anytime soon. Now swinging through the U.S. on the "Hackney Diamonds" tour, the group will look at opportunities to play in other countries next year, Jagger said in an interview. "We'll consider those offers, where we're going to go and where it will be fun, you know?" he said. "It could be Europe, could be South America, could be anywhere." Jagger also said the Stones are likely to release more new music soon.   The current tour is named for the critically praised album the Stones debuted last October, the first new material from the British rockers in 18 years. At each stop, Jagger commands the stage for two hours with bandmates Keith Richards, 80, and Ronnie Wood, 77. Fans say Jagger still delivers a vigorous performance full of gyrating, stomping, sprinting and his world-famous swagger. In a review titled "The Rolling Stones Really Might Never Stop," the New York Times said Jagger, at a show at a football stadium in New Jersey, seemed to get more energetic as the night went on. Where does he find such energy? "I just enjoy it," Jagger said. "Really, that's the answer. I just love doing it. "You get this back and forth with the audience. You can see they're having a good time, you're having a good time, and it gives you a lot more energy." Music legends may join Jagger Jagger said he stays fit by doing two dance rehearsals and a few gym workouts each week. His father was a physical education teacher and Jagger has often credited his good health to genetics. On the tour, the Stones play about four songs from "Hackney Diamonds" in between rock classics such as "Start Me Up," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" and "Sympathy for the Devil." The set list is tweaked for each stop. Fans appear to have embraced the new music, Jagger said. He sees people in the crowd singing along to the words. Coming up, Jagger said he hopes to be joined on stage by some of the music legends who made guest appearances on "Hackney Diamonds" - Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder and Elton John - but said he does not yet have commitments. "It's hard pinning them down," he said. The Stones recorded many songs that did not make it onto "Hackney Diamonds," which may lead to another album, Jagger said. "We've got a lot more, so I think we may be set up to make another album quite soon," he said. Outside of music, Jagger is producing a film about the love story between jazz musician Miles Davis and French actress and singer Juliette Greco, as well as a movie adaptation of "The Real Thing," a play by British playwright Tom Stoppard. Jagger has appeared on screen in about a dozen films and TV shows and said he would like to do more acting. "I don't really get that many interesting offers, to be honest," he said. "I enjoy doing it when I do it." Interest in U.S. elections On the tour, the band asks ticket holders at each stop to vote on one song to be included in that night's show. Boston fans chose 1980 track "Emotional Rescue" in the online poll, which had a turnout of roughly 80%. Jagger used the moment to urge the audience to vote in the U.S. presidential election in November. He did not say which candidate he preferred, but the band has threatened to sue likely Republican nominee Donald Trump if his campaign keeps playing the Stones hit "You Can’t Always Get What You Want" at events. Jagger has made brief political jabs on stage and occasionally receives flack as a Brit commenting on American politics. "First of all, I think everyone has a right to have an opinion," Jagger said. "It's a free country." "I feel like it's such an important election," he added. "I've got seven children who are U.S. citizens. I care about what happens to their future. And I pay a lot of American taxes. So why shouldn't I be able to say what I feel?"

Chicago — Mark Tuttle planted more soy and less corn on his northern Illinois farm this spring as prices for both crops hover near three-year lows and soybeans' lower production costs offered him the best chance of turning a profit in the country's top soy producing state. He even planted soybeans in one of his fields for a second straight year, breaking the traditional soy-corn-soy rotation for field management. He and many other farmers are hoping to just minimize losses. Planting more soy at a time of sputtering demand from importers and domestic processors will only serve to drive prices lower, further swell historically large global supplies and erode U.S. farm incomes already poised for the steepest annual drop ever in dollar terms. But Midwest farmers' other main options — seeding more corn or leaving fields fallow — could have resulted in even wider losses. "There's a better chance of making money with soybeans than there is for corn right now," Tuttle said. "But if we have another bigger crop, prices are going to go lower and that's not going to bode well for the farmer." In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast farmers would plant 86.5 million acres of soybeans nationwide this spring, the fifth most ever. Some analysts expect soybean acres to increase by another million acres or more as heavy rains close the window on corn planting. In nearby Princeton, Illinois, Evan Hultine also increased soy plantings and scaled back corn. High production costs due in part to a jump in interest rates looked likely to erode most or all of his corn returns, while soybeans remained marginally profitable, he said. The farm's profits will likely be the thinnest in at least five years, Hultine said. In an annual early season crop budget estimate, University of Illinois agricultural economists projected negative average farmer returns in the state for both crops, though losses would be smaller for soybeans. Unprofitable crops  In northern Illinois, farmers could lose $140 per acre on average for corn and $30 an acre for soybeans with autumn delivery prices of $4.50 and $11.50 a bushel, respectively, the analysis showed. Actual returns vary significantly from farm to farm, however, depending on factors like crop yields, the timing of grain sales and whether farmers own or rent their land. Fertilizer costs are down from highs last year, but crop prices are also down, while land costs remain elevated and borrowing rates for operating loans and equipment have jumped, likely forcing farmers to cut expenses, the economists said. When looking to cut costs, farmers often favor planting soybeans rather than corn because they require less fertilizer and pesticides and seed costs tend to be lower. High interest rates have been a particularly painful expense recently. "If you're borrowing $700 an acre to put a corn crop in at 7% to 8%, you're talking about some real dollars there just on the price of money. You can put a bean crop in a lot cheaper. Your interest cost per acre might be half," Tuttle said. More soy, less corn An early-spring forecast from the USDA projected soy plantings would expand by 3.5% this year while corn plantings were expected to shrink 4.9%. The expansion is expected to swell the U.S. soy stockpile next season by more than 30% to the highest in five years and the sixth highest level on record as demand from the domestic and export markets is not keeping pace with rising production, according to the USDA. Now, rain-saturated fields in some areas could clip corn acres and even further expand seedings of soybeans, which, unlike corn, can be planted well into June without significant risk to yields. Cash prices offered for the next corn and soybean harvest have improved from earlier this spring in Spencer, Iowa, where Brent Swart has been struggling to plant the last of his corn acres due to overly wet weather. But neither crop pencils a profit at current prices. Nearly a foot of rain over the past month, seven inches more than normal, has left his fields too soggy for field work. Swart estimates his remaining corn fields may not be in shape to plant until after his planting deadline date of June 1, when crop insurance benefits begin to drop with each day. Swart's best option in some of his fields may be to file an insurance claim saying he was prevented from planting due to waterlogged soils. Soybean prices remain some 40 cents a bushel under his estimated cost of production, he said. "If you switch to soybeans, you're potentially looking at a loss. If you prevent plant, you're looking at more of a breakeven scenario," Swart said. Only farmers with severe weather issues will be able to file for insurance, however. Weather delays and a favorable price versus corn could boost soy plantings by 500,000 to 1 million acres above the USDA's latest forecast for 86.5 million, said Tanner Ehmke, lead economist for grains and oilseeds at CoBank. "The signal from the marketplace to the farmer right now is that, if you have a doubt about your acreage, send those acres to soybeans," he said.

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Seoul, South Korea — South Korea fully suspended an agreement meant to reduce tensions with North Korea, defense officials said Tuesday, allowing Seoul to resume all military activities along the inter-Korean border. The decision, approved by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, is part of Seoul’s response after Pyongyang sent waves of balloons filled with trash and excrement over the South. The decision frees South Korea to resume military drills, including live-fire exercises, along the border and near frontline islands. It also allows for the resumption of loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts into the North. Inter-Korean tensions escalated last week after hundreds of North Korean balloons dropped garbage – and reportedly feces – on busy streets, in front of residences, and in other public areas across South Korea. North Korea says its trash balloons were retaliation after a prominent, South Korea-based human rights activist, launched balloons carrying anti-North Korea pamphlets and Korean pop culture content into the North. South Korea’s military said it has found nearly 1,000 “filth balloons,” which were sent in two separate waves. It says North Korea has also been blocking GPS signals in border areas. In a statement Tuesday, South Korea’s military said the North’s actions “seriously threatened the safety of our people” and vowed to “firmly punish” any future provocations. “The government has decided to suspend all of the ‘919 military agreements’ so that our military is no longer restricted in their activities to protect the lives and property of the people,” the statement said. “Responsibility for this situation lies entirely with the North Korean regime,” it added, without specifying which military activities would resume along the border or when. South Korean media report that officials may resume loudspeaker broadcasts, which contain criticism of North Korea’s human rights record and forms of entertainment forbidden in the North. North Korea is governed by a third-generation hereditary dictatorship that views virtually all outside information as an existential threat. Pyongyang has promised to halt its trash balloon launches as long as no anti-Pyongyang materials are sent northward. But Park Sang-hak, the North Korean defector activist who heads a group called Fighters for a Free North Korea, vowed to continue sending his balloons unless North Korean leader Kim Jong Un apologizes for his “evil acts.” “If you do not apologize, we will retaliate a thousand times – ten thousand times – more than what you have done,” Park said in a statement. South Korean officials have at times argued that they cannot stop every individual from sending leaflets into the North. Their ability to regulate such launches was further hampered in September, when the country’s Constitutional Court struck down a law banning such launches. The developments appear to put both Koreas on a path to escalation, said Chad O’Carroll, the Seoul-based founder of NK News, a website focused on North Korea. According to O’Carroll, North Korea appears determined to coerce South Korea into stopping the northward launches. “Outside information is really ideological contamination, it's like a cancer. It's a serious Achilles heel for Kim Jong Un,” he said. “And I think this latest action is a function of that hypersensitivity.” If South Korea were to resume propaganda broadcasts, that could prompt an even firmer response by the North, O’Carroll said, citing a 2015 incident in which North Korea fired a projectile toward a South Korean loudspeaker. “If they do that, we could see a greater chance for North Korea to consider some limited form of kinetic military action to stop loudspeakers or to stop the growth of this unofficial information coming into the North." In 2018, the two Koreas agreed to stop a wide range of border provocations, including military drills and propaganda broadcasts. However, that deal, known as the Comprehensive Military Agreement, has been eroding for years. Most notably, North Korea in late 2022 sent five small reconnaissance drones across the border, with one making it all the way to the northern edge of the capital, Seoul. After the North successfully placed its first spy satellite into orbit in November, South Korea stepped away from parts of the agreement. In return, Pyongyang said it would never be bound by the deal. The CMA was perhaps the most concrete outcome of the 2018-19 diplomacy between the two Koreas, which saw three meetings between Kim and his then South Korean counterpart, President Moon Jae-in. The conservative Yoon has expressed disdain for the agreement, slamming what he calls the “fake peace” initiative of his liberal predecessor.

WASHINGTON — The war in Gaza is shaking Muslim Americans’ political loyalties ahead of the U.S. presidential election in November. Disenchanted by President Joe Biden’s embrace of Israel, many Democratic-leaning Muslims who once backed him are now vowing to withdraw their endorsement. But it’s not just Muslim Democrats abandoning their once-preferred candidate. Some Muslim Republicans are also wavering amidst their own party's support of Israel. Mo Nehad, a Pakistani American Republican activist in Fort Bend County, Texas, has seen up close the political effects of the Gaza conflict on Muslim American voting. In late 2020, Nehad, who is a small-business owner, police officer and military warrant officer, helped found a grassroots group in a bid to engage the local Muslim community with the Republican Party. Initially focused on opposition to COVID-19 vaccine mandates and mask mandates, the group, called Muslim Americans of Texas, soon found a new cause: a conservative backlash to sex and gender education policies in local schools. "We were essentially trying to tell the Muslim community, regardless of what has happened in the past overseas, let's focus on national topics and events," Nehad said in an interview. “And when you compare what traditionally a Democratic-elected president has done and a Republican-elected president has done [on national issues], a Republican-elected president is much better for the Muslims.” The advocacy paid off, he said. While the Fort Bend County Muslim community remained solidly Democratic, a small number started crossing party lines, mirroring a pattern seen across the country. "These are people who go to the same masjid as I do, people who are in the same home-school groups," he said. Then the war in Gaza broke out after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, testing the political allegiance of Muslim Democrats and Republicans alike, with both viewing their parties as equally pro-Israel. Many Muslim Americans who had overwhelmingly voted for Biden in 2020 fumed over the president’s support for an Israeli military campaign that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians. Earlier this year, a group of progressive Muslim activists launched a campaign they labeled #AbandonBiden, inducing hundreds of thousands of voters to vote “uncommitted” in key Democratic primaries in Michigan and elsewhere. Members were also threatening not to vote for Biden in November. Republican-leaning Muslims, fewer in number, have not been as vocal. While many are backing their party, its equally staunch support of Israel has alienated some, according to Muslim activists and experts. Nehad said that while he intends to vote for former President Donald Trump in November, some Republican Muslims are reconsidering their stance and even “going back” to the Democratic Party, drawn by that party’s stronger criticism of Israeli actions. “They don’t want to vote for Republican candidates because the Republican candidates do not want to go ahead and openly denounce what Israel is doing,” Nehad said. Drift to GOP stalls Youssef Chouhoud, a political science professor at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, Virginia, said the war in Gaza appears to have paused if not blunted the recent Muslim drift to the GOP. Had the war not occurred, he said that as many as 40% of Muslim Americans would have voted for the Republican presidential nominee in November. “I was fully expecting that,” Chouhoud, who studies Muslim American voting behavior, said. Now, he said he is not so sure. “I wouldn’t be surprised if upwards of 40% are voting third party or otherwise testing some vote that is not a two-party vote,” he said. A recent poll by the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee and The Truth Project showed that only 7% of Arab American voters plan to vote for Biden and 2% for Trump, with Green Party candidate Jill Stein receiving 25%. How the Muslim vote will influence the outcome of the presidential contest between Biden and Trump remains uncertain. Numbering about 3.5 million, Muslims make up just 1% of the U.S. population. In tight races in swing states with large Muslim populations, though, their vote could potentially sway the outcome of the election. But American Muslims are a diverse lot, with interests and priorities often as varied as the general electorate. While anger over the Gaza conflict may have unified the community, it is not the only issue driving their voting decision, said Saher Selod, director of research for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a Muslim American research group in Dearborn, Michigan. “We need to know if [some Muslim voters] are centering this issue as a major driving force in terms of how they're going to vote," Selod said in an interview. "Other groups, while they might support a cease-fire, have other issues that that they're going to vote on." VOA asked both the Biden and Trump campaigns about their outreach to Muslim Americans and any steps to assuage their concerns over the Gaza war. In a statement, a Biden campaign spokesperson said, “The President shares the goal of a just and lasting peace in the region. He’s working tirelessly to that end.” In a separate statement, the campaign’s Michigan director said the Biden team is in contact with Arab American and Muslim groups in Detroit and Dearborn. Both cities have large Muslim populations. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. The campaign has not publicly reached out to the Muslim community on the war in Gaza, but Trump’s son-in-law, Michael Boulos, and a former Trump administration official recently met with a group of Arab Americans and Middle Eastern leaders in Michigan. Historical patterns Historically, Muslim American voters have oscillated between the two major political parties. Socially conservative, most voted Republican in the 1980s and 1990s, leading some party activists to hail them as “natural” allies. In 2000, a majority backed Republican George W. Bush. That changed after the attacks of Sept. 11, as the Bush administration’s increased scrutiny of the community amid its “war on terror” sent Muslims flocking to the Democratic Party. In every presidential election since 2004, Muslims have favored the Democratic nominee. But with memories of 9/11 fading in recent years, some Muslims began to shift back to the Republican Party, driven by shared conservative values such as opposition to abortion, gay marriage and LGBTQ-inclusive policies in schools. "This is the social conservatism within this community kind of creeping up to the surface and guiding political decisions in light of a lot of marquee policy debates," Chouhoud said. Some polls confirm this recent voting trend. In October 2020, an Institute for Social Policy and Understanding poll found 30% of Muslims approved of Trump's job performance, up from 13% in 2018.  In November 2020, an Associated Press exit poll found that 64% supported Biden and 35% backed Trump. Other polls showed a more modest increase in Muslim support for Trump. Muslim support for Republican candidates continued into 2022. During that year's midterm elections, 28% of Muslims voted Republican, up from 17% during the 2018 midterms, while 70% voted Democratic, down from 81%. Today, the Muslim voter base is firmly rooted in the Democratic Party, though a significant slice leans Republican. A recent Pew Research poll found that 66% of Muslim voters are Democrats or lean Democratic, while 32% are Republicans or lean Republican. Three previous polls conducted by Pew had all shown lower-level numbers of Republican or Republican-leaning Muslim voters, according to Besheer Mohamed, a senior Pew researcher. “There are certain issues where Muslims tend to align more with the Republican Party, Mohamed said, noting positive views of religion and skepticisms toward LGBTQ issues.  “Then there are other issues where that’s not the case.” Nehad, once an independent voter, is now a Republican. His political pivot came after he ran unsuccessfully as a Democratic candidate for constable where he said he felt pressured to champion policies that clashed with his religious convictions. This year, he stood as a Republican candidate for Fort Bend County sheriff. “Everything the Republican Party stands for, 70% of it aligns with my beliefs and values,” Nehad said, in a drawl honed over more than 25 years of living in the Lone Star state. “But when I compare the same with the Democratic Party, it’s only maybe 20 or 40%, if that.” Zahoor Gire, another co-founder of the Muslim Americans of Texas, said Muslim Americans “share conservative Republican values” such as strong families, traditional marriage, traditional gender roles and opposition to abortion. “I had family members of my own that had voted Democratic before and are now voting Republican,” Gire said. Underscoring the renewed Muslim embrace of the Republican Party, he said a record eight Republican Muslim candidates have run for office in Texas this year. “So that shows you the willingness of people to embrace this party and then run for office through this party’s platform,” Gire said. To many Muslim Republicans, Trump is not the anti-Muslim politician as he is seen by others. They’ve defended his so-called “Muslim ban” as a necessary national security measure rather than a religiously motivated injunction. But the Gaza war has become “the main issue” for Muslims in America, Gire said. And with Trump urging Israel earlier this year to “finish what they started,” his perceived support of Israel at the expense of Palestinians is giving some Muslim Republicans pause. Asked if he will support Trump in November, Gire said, "We need to see very specifically what his foreign policies will be, what his stance towards Muslim Americans will be.”

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Taipei, Taiwan — Authorities in China and Hong Kong are tightening control over civil society as people in more than a dozen cities around the world commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre on Tuesday. Ahead of the anniversary, Hong Kong authorities arrested eight people over social media posts commemorating June Fourth, which the police claim were aimed at using “an upcoming sensitive date” to incite hatred against the Hong Kong government and contained seditious intentions. Most prominent among those arrested is human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung, who has been detained since 2021 for organizing an annual Tiananmen Vigil in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park, which has been banned since Beijing imposed the controversial National Security Law on the former British colony in 2020. Other individuals arrested by Hong Kong police include Chow’s mother and uncle and former members of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance, which used to organize the annual vigil and in which Chow served as vice chairwoman before its dissolution. In addition to the eight people arrested for social media posts commemorating June Fourth, Hong Kong police detained performance artist Sanmu Chen Monday in the busy shopping district Causeway Bay, which was near Victoria Park. Local media reports said Chen pretended to drink in front of a police van and write or draw in the air. This is the second year that Chen was detained by police on the eve of the Tiananmen Square massacre. Instead of the now-prohibited Tiananmen vigil, several pro-Beijing community organizations are holding a “food carnival” from June 1 to June 5 at Victoria Park, a move that some activists characterized as ironic. In China, authorities sentenced former Tiananmen Student leader Xu Guang to four years in jail on April 3 for demanding that the Chinese government acknowledge the massacre and for holding a sign calling for government compensation in front of a local police station in May 2022. Apart from Xu’s jail sentences, some family members of Tiananmen victims or former Tiananmen student leaders have also been put under strict police surveillance ahead of Tuesday’s anniversary, according to Human Rights Watch. Chinese authorities have also censored a wide range of words, phrases, and even emojis due to their connection to the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Chinese activist Li Ying, who became a prominent source of news during China’s “white paper movement” in 2022, disclosed that Chinese authorities have banned the use of the candle emoji in China, which was commonly used for posts related to the Tiananmen Massacre. Some analysts say the increased crackdown on civil society initiated by Hong Kong and Chinese authorities ahead of the Tiananmen anniversary reflects their attempt to remove memories related to the tragic event. “The Hong Kong government is sending a message that June Fourth is a clear national security red line for Hong Kong and they want to make sure there is no commemoration or no memory of June Fourth in public,” Maya Wang, the interim China director at Human Rights Watch, told VOA by phone. While the two national security laws that the Hong Kong government has implemented since 2020 have essentially outlawed public commemoration of June Fourth, Wang said some people in the city are still using veiled references to commemorate the event. “June Fourth continues to be a collective memory among people in Hong Kong and you do see some of them make veiled references to the date by wearing black or through other gestures,” she said, adding that the effect of the authorities’ attempts to remove memories associated with June Fourth remains unclear. A Christian newspaper in Hong Kong that used to release information about the Tiananmen vigils published an almost blank front page on Sunday as their response to the upcoming anniversary. Hong Kong’s Roman Catholic Cardinal Stephen Chow called for forgiveness and vaguely referenced the Tiananmen anniversary in an article he published.  Despite the lack of public commemoration in China and Hong Kong, several cities around the world, including Tokyo, Paris, London, New York, Boston, and Taipei, have each organized events to commemorate the event, which occurred when government troops fired on student-led pro-democracy protestors on June 4, causing what are thought to be thousands of deaths.    Zhou Fengsuo, a former Tiananmen student leader, told VOA that the dozens of commemorative events abroad play an important role in pushing back against the Chinese government’s efforts to erase memories related to the Tiananmen Square Massacre. “When the Chinese government tries to intensify crackdowns on the commemoration of June Fourth, more people in the diaspora community feel compelled to help organize or participate in commemorations of the tragic event around the world,” he said in a phone interview. Zhou has attended more than 20 Tiananmen commemorative events around the world this year and he said many events are organized or attended by young people or new immigrants from China. “I met a lot of Chinese people at the June Fourth Memorial Museum in New York, and they are all actively participating in this year’s commemorative events,” he said. As people around the world take part in commemorations of the Tiananmen Massacre, some activists say they remain hopeful that this decades-long tradition will be passed down to the next generation. “I was encouraged to see a lot of young people, including Japanese people, take part in the June Fourth commemoration in Tokyo,” said Patrick Poon, a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo, adding that young people’s involvement in the event made him believe the tradition will be continued. Through the efforts to organize commemorations of the Tiananmen Square Massacre around the world, Wang at Human Rights Watch said the Tiananmen anniversary is helping to strengthen linkages among different groups in the diaspora community that focus on pushing back against the Chinese government’s crackdown on civil society. “Through these linkages, there is a growing solidarity of resistance on the state,” she told VOA.   

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Give us 5 minutes, and we'll give you the world. Around the clock, Voice of America keeps you in touch with the latest news. We bring you reports from our correspondents and interviews with newsmakers from across the world.

Mexico has elected its first woman president and the first with a Jewish background in the nation’s history. Experts say Claudia Sheinbaum will face a series of major challenges when she becomes the chief of Mexico, a top U.S. ally. VOA’s Celia Mendoza reports from the capital, Mexico City.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday downplayed the immediate prospects for a cease-fire in the war with Hamas in Gaza, saying that a deal proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden to halt the fighting and release militant-held hostages was a partial outline. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused China of pressuring other countries to not attend an upcoming Ukraine peace summit in Switzerland later this month, a summit Vice President Kamala Harris will attend according to a statement released Monday. Hundreds of millions of European Union citizens will be able to vote June 6-9 to choose the 720 members of the next European Parliament. Young Europeans reflect on past promises and future hopes for the bloc, two decades since most of the countries in Central and Eastern Europe joined the EU in 2004.