20 Years Later, Chinese Dissident Wang Juanto and U.S. Journalist Philip Cunningham Look Back on Tiananmen Square Uprising

On June 3 and 4, 1989, the Chinese military killed an untold numbers of unarmed civilians in Beijing and other cities. The crackdown occurred after weeks of non-violent protests.

While the anniversary has been marked around the world, no memorials were held in Tiananmen Square itself. On Thursday, foreign journalists were barred from the square and plain clothes police officers patrolled the area. Many Chinese dissidents were put house arrest leading up to the anniversary. In recent days Chinese authorities blocked access to social networking and email websites including Twitter and Hotmail.

For the past 20 years the Chinese government has dismissed international condemnation of what happened in Tiananmen Square. In January 2001, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson defended the use of deadly force as “extremely necessary for the stability and development of the country.” Human rights groups have long called for the government to publish a complete list of those killed, injured or jailed during the crackdown.

Today we will be joined by two eyewitnesses to the events of June 1989, but first we turn to an excerpt from the documentary"’The Gate of Heavenly Peace."

Excerpt from the documentary “The Gate of Heavenly Peace”, produced by the Long Bow Group.

We are joined now by two guests. Wang Juntao is a prominent Chinese dissident who was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment following the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. At the time he led an influential think tank that supported the student protests. He was released in 1994 and was exiled to the United States. Last month he was denied a visa to enter China to attend a conference in Hong Kong commemorating the 20th anniversary.

We are also joined by the journalist Philip Cunningham, author of the new book “Tiananmen Moon: Inside the Chinese Student Uprising of 1989.” He marched with student protesters in 1989 at Tiananmen Square and conducted interviews with student activists for BBC and ABC news. Philip Cunningham joins us by videostream from Japan.

Philip Cunningham, author of the new book “Tiananmen Moon: Inside the Chinese Student Uprising of 1989.” He marched with student protesters in 1989 at Tiananmen Square and conducted interviews with student activists for BBC and ABC news.

Wang Juntao, prominent Chinese dissident who was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment following the 1989 Tienanmen Square. He was released in 1994 and was exiled to the United States. Last month he was denied a visa to enter China after he applied for one in order to attend a conference in Hong Kong commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.