Tang Baiqiao

In thisChinese name,thefamily nameisTang.

Tang Baiqiao
Đường bách kiều
Tang Baiqiao inOverseas Community Affairs Council
Born	(1967-08-11)August 11, 1967 Yongzhou,Hunan,China
Years active	1986–present

Baiqiao Tang(Chinese:Đường bách kiều;born 11 August 1967,Yongzhou;sometimes spelledTang Boqiao) is aChinesepolitical dissidentfromHunan provincewho ledstudent protestsduring the 1989democracymovement. After the1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre,Tang fled from agents of theChinese Communist Party(CCP) who eventually arrested him in the city ofJiangmen.He was charged with being acounter-revolutionaryand imprisoned. Upon his release, he fled toHong Kong,where he co-authored the reportAnthems of Defeat: Crackdown in Hunan Province 1989 - 1992throughHuman Rights Watchwith Dr.Robin Munroof theUniversity of London.Tang was later accepted into the United States as apolitical refugeein 1992.Tang claimed that he graduated in 2003 with aMaster's degreeininternational affairsfromColumbia University,but university archive and registrar of Columbia University claimed that he studied there but did not graduate.

Early life

Tang was born on August 11, 1967, inYongzhou.He attendedLingling Number Four High SchoolinHunan,and thenHunan Normal University.

Arrival in the U.S.

Tang arrived in the United States in April, 1992. In June of that year, at a press conference in Washington, D.C., he announced the existence of an underground group called the All-China People's Autonomous Federation. According to Tang, the Federation was, at that time, operating in thePeople's Republic of China,and consisted mostly of former students who had taken part in the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Tang called himself the group's "overseas spokesman." He refused to cite specific members of the group for fear of reprisal by theChinese Communist Party.The Federation's existence was corroborated by Dr. Robin Munro, who reportedly called the group "extensive and well organized."

Tang was also cited by officials of Asia Watch, a division ofHuman Rights Watch,for contributing the majority of research to a publication calledAnthems of Defeat: Crackdown in Hunan Province 1989 - 1992.The book details some of the harshest punishments and human rights atrocities meted out by the CCP in the wake of Tiananmen Square. Among these were the plight of threeChinesedissidentssentenced up tolife imprisonmentfor hurling paint at an image ofMao Zedongin connection withstudent protestsduring the 1989democracy movement.

Continued activism

Since his escape from China, Tang Baiqiao has remained very active in thepro-democracy movement.In particular, he has called for a reassessment of China'shuman rightspolicies (including the number of actual casualties sustained in theTiananmen Square massacre), an examination of the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners worldwide, support for theDalai Lama's efforts to negotiate change forTibet,and an end to the Chinese Communist Party.

Tang is a frequent on-air special commentator forNew Tang Dynasty Television.He is a spokesman and officer for the China Interim Government.His articles have appeared in theJournal of International AffairsandBeijing Spring,among other publications.

Retrospective commentary on Tiananmen Square

In 1999, in an interview withHuman Rights Watch,Tang stated that, "The 1989 democracy movement and the June 4 crackdown cut off any meaningful movement toward political change." Specifically, he said that public discussion related to political reforms were taking place before theTiananmen Square protests.Tang noted that the reform efforts ofZhao Ziyang,Bao Tong,andChen Yizimight well have prevailed had the crackdown never occurred. In essence,Tiananmen SquareallowedCCPleaders such asJiang Zeminto consolidate their power over theParty,the government, and the military.

In the same interview, Tang noted that corruption, notpolitical reform,was the primary concern of student protestors. He pointed out that students also wished to seeHu Yaobangrehabilitated, as well as increased social benefits forintellectuals.Tang maintains that issues ofdemocracyandhuman rightsonly emerged in the end stages ofTiananmen Square,and then somewhat tangentially.However, Tang notes that, due to the 1989 movement, theChinesegovernmenthas allowed greater economic, social, and cultural freedoms.

Publications

Anthems of Defeat: Crackdown in Hunan Province 1989 - 1992,with Robin Munro (1991)

Various articles

My Two Chinas: The Memoir of a Chinese Counterrevolutionary,withDamon DiMarco(2011) fromPrometheus Books

Tang wrote the foreword to Peter Navarro's 2011 bookDeath by China,which highlights the threats to America's economic dominance in the 21st century posed by China's Communist Party.

Tang is a noted supporter ofDonald Trump.He criticized Trump as flawed politician, but praised his actions against theChinese Communist Party.In 2017, he became one of the operators of aTwitteraccount that translated toSimplified Chineseall of Trump's tweets.The account amassed over 50,000 followers.

See also

• List of Chinese dissidents

External links

• YouTube video
• Facebook Page
• Twitter account
• Tangbaiqiao's blog