ASIA / PACIFIC
June 19, 2017
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 5
Illegal Tiananmen Square
liquor displayed in Hong Kong
By Kelvin Chan
The Associated Press
ONG KONG — A bottle of
forbidden liquor produced
last year by Chinese
activists to mark the 1989 military
crackdown on Beijing’s Tiananmen
Square has arrived in Hong Kong
after a trip around the world.
Hong Kong pro-democracy leaders
unveiled the bottle of Chinese baijiu
marking the date June 4, 1989, when
communist leaders sent tanks and
troops to retake the square from
student-led
protesters,
leaving
hundreds if not thousands dead.
They called for the release of the
four Chinese dissidents arrested last
year for bottling the baijiu in a bid to
raise awareness about the crack-
down.
The bottle was smuggled from
China and taken on a symbolic trip
around the world. It was displayed at
a Hong Kong museum dedicated to
chronicling the bloodshed just days
before the city marked the anniver-
sary with a candlelight vigil.
The four dissidents, Fu Hailu,
Chen Bing, Zhang Junyon, and Luo
Fuyu, were arrested in the south-
western city of Chengdu and charged
in March with “inciting subversion of
state power.” Their arrests are part of
a broader crackdown on rights
activists under President Xi Jinping.
“What is Xi Jinping afraid of?” said
pro-democracy
organizer
Lee
Cheuk-yan. “If he is afraid of this
June 4, ’89 liquor, then I believe he
should be even more concerned about
Hong Kong peoples’ candlelight.”
H
ROYAL VOW. Japan’s Crown Prince Naruhito speaks to the media
during a press conference at Togu Palace in Tokyo. Prince Naruhito has
pledged to tackle every task of an emperor with devotion and care, just
like his father, when he assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne. Japan’s
parliament has passed a special law allowing current Emperor Akihito
to abdicate within three years. (Kyodo News via AP)
Japan crown prince vows to
be devoted emperor like father
By Mari Yamaguchi
The Associated Press
OKYO — Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito has
pledged to devote himself to the role of emperor,
like his father, when he assumes the Chrysan-
themum Throne.
“I will devote myself body and soul to every single duty,”
Naruhito said.
Japan’s parliament has passed a special law allowing
current Emperor Akihito to abdicate within three years.
Last August, Akihito indirectly expressed his wish to
abdicate, saying his age and health might start limiting
his ability to fulfill his duties.
No specific dates have been announced, but officials are
reportedly eyeing an abdication at the end of 2018, when
Akihito turns 85 and his reign is in its 30th year. Akihito
would be the first emperor to abdicate in 200 years.
Naruhito said he understands and respects his father’s
feelings.
“While serving many years as a symbol of the people,
the emperor has tackled his tasks extremely seriously,
taking every one of them close to heart and sincerely
seeking out how his ideal role should be,” Naruhito said.
Naruhito, 57, the emperor’s eldest son and first in line to
the throne, made the comments to a group of journalists
ahead of a trip to Denmark marking 150 years of
diplomatic ties.
Akihito is the first emperor to ascend to the throne with
his role defined as the symbol of the people under Japan’s
Continued on page 13
T
HOT HOOTCH. Pro-democracy activist Andrew To holds a bottle of baijiu, or sorghum wine,
at a tiny museum in Hong Kong to mark the anniversary of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crack-
down. The bottle travelled to Hong Kong after a clandestine trip around the world. (AP Photo/Kin
Cheung)
Talk of the crackdown remains to the Hong Kong Alliance in Support
taboo in mainland China and many of Patriotic Democratic Movements
people are not aware of it, though it is in China, which operates the
freely discussed in Hong Kong, a museum. Neither the countries nor
special Chinese region with much the couriers were identified.
It reportedly arrived in Paris,
autonomy.
The four dissidents dubbed the where it was mailed to an exiled
booze “Eight Liquor Six Four” and Chinese activist, Yang Jianli, in
sold it for 89.64 yuan — shorthand for Washington, who handed it off to
the crackdown date. In Chinese, the Hong Kong activist Andrew To, who
word for liquor sounds similar to the carried it on its final leg from the U.S.
before he flew back home.
word for nine.
To said it was crucial to bring it
The bottle’s label depicts a lone
figure facing down a row of tanks, back to Hong Kong to commemorate
reminiscent of the famous “Tank the event on June 4. “It’s just a label,
Man” image from 1989, and boasts of but it scares the Chinese govern-
being aged 27 years with 64 percent ment,” he said.
The bottle was on view at the mu-
strength.
The bottle was carried by hand seum’s temporary location through
through countries in South Asia, the June 15. Organizers are looking to
Middle East, and Europe, according buy a permanent space.
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