Catholic leader urges China to re-examine Tiananmen massacre

Jun 1, 2009, 9:40 GMT

   Hong Kong - The former head of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong Monday called on China to reassess the Communist Party's official verdict on the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

   Speaking three days before the 20th anniversary of the incident in which hundreds, possibly thousands, of students and their supporters were killed, Cardinal Joseph Zen said there should be an official re-examination of the bloody crackdown.

   'I hope they really consider seriously the possibility of a reassessment of the verdict,' Zen said in a speech at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Hong Kong reported by government-run radio station RTHK.

   A reassessment of the official verdict, which ruled the action was necessary to maintain China's social stability, would hurt no one and would be 'to the advantage of the whole nation,' Zen argued.

   However, the former Catholic leader, who retired earlier this year, admitted that any softening of Beijing's stance on the crushing of the pro-democracy movement might happen 'tomorrow or in another 20 years.'

   Zen was a persistent thorn in the side of the Beijing government during his years as leader of the Catholic Church in Hong Kong and regularly criticising China for its lack of freedom and democracy.

   His successor Bishop John Tong said in an interview in April that he too believed China should reverse its official verdict on the students killed in the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

   Tens of thousands of people are expected to take part in a candle-light vigil in Hong Kong on Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of the killings, the only place on Chinese soil where the massacre can be publicly commemorated.

   Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997 after 156 years as a British colony under a 'one country two systems' arrangement that guarantees political freedoms and the right to demonstrate.