TEXT: U.S. MARKS TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF TIANANMEN SQUARE CRACKDOWN
(China urged to release demonstrators, account for dead)

Washington -- U.S.-China relations will not reach their full potential until China brings its human rights practices into compliance with its obligations under international human rights instruments, according to State Department Spokesman James Rubin.

In a statement marking the tenth anniversary of the violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square on June 3-4, 1989, Rubin urged the Chinese government to make a full accounting to the relatives of those who were killed and to release all those still serving sentences for their peaceful participation in the demonstrations.

Following is the official text of Rubin's statement:

(begin text)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
June 4, 1999

STATEMENT BY JAMES P. RUBIN, SPOKESMAN

U.S. NOTES TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF TRAGIC EVENTS IN AND NEAR
TIANANMEN SQUARE IN BEIJING AM ELSEWHERE IN CHINA

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the tragic events in and near Tiananmen Square in Beijing and elsewhere in China.

Over the past ten years, we have repeatedly urged the Chinese government to make a full accounting to the relatives of those who were killed during the violent crackdown on demonstrators on June 3-4, 1989, and to release all those still serving sentences for their peaceful participation in the demonstrations.

Today, on the tenth anniversary of Tiananmen, we recall those who spoke out for the values of freedom and democracy and again ask for China to right the wrongs of Tiananmen. U.S.-China relations will not reach their full potential until China brings its human rights practices into compliance with its obligations under international human rights instruments. The United States will support as it has in the past, Chinese citizens' exercise of basic, universally-protected human rights.

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