Why Taiwan Must Still Commemorate June 4th Before Memory Fades

Taiwan has become a rare sanctuary for commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, a stark contrast to the increasing repression in Hong Kong. The article highlights that while Hong Kong once saw vigils in Victoria Park, the imposition of the National Security Law has made even silence dangerous, silencing public gatherings, slogans, and organizations like the Hong Kong Alliance.

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The most successful rule of an authoritarian regime is never violence, but making people gradually believe that forgetting is easier.

In Taiwan, the ability to openly discuss and commemorate the events of June 4th carries profound significance. The author argues that remembering is essential precisely because authoritarianism's greatest tool is not violence, but the gradual convincing of people that forgetting is easier. The initial protests in Beijing were not a revolution but a call for a more transparent government and less corruption, with students genuinely believing the country could improve.

The article draws parallels with the experiences of exiled writer Liao Yiwu, who faced imprisonment and lifelong surveillance for documenting the massacre. His continued writing about the forgotten lives – miners, beggars, dissidents – serves as a testament to the power of memory against erasure. Many survivors, even in exile, are haunted by the past, their trauma unhealed in societies that refuse to remember.

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Taiwan has become one of the few places in the Chinese-speaking world that can openly commemorate June 4th. This is far more significant than many people imagine.

Taiwan's value, the piece suggests, lies in its capacity for open discourse. The freedom to criticize, protest, vote, and write freely is not merely a system but a moral responsibility. Commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacre is not about dwelling on tragedy but about affirming the kind of society Taiwan aspires to be – one that remembers those who are not its own, thereby strengthening the foundation of freedom.

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The civilization of a society is judged not only by how it treats its own people, but also by whether it is willing to remember those who are not its own.