Americans Create Stir With Tian An Men Memorial : China: Three members of Congress stage a brief ceremony for victims of 1989 protest. Police detain some journalists | LA Times - Sept. 5, 1991 |

Several visibly nervous young police officers then sought, with little success, simultaneously to disperse the crowd, keep the American politicians from leaving and prevent television crews from continuing to record the scene.

Reps. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), Ben Jones (D-Ga.) and John Miller (R-Wash.) were allowed to walk away after a few minutes of confusion that was aggravated by the language barrier. Some American television journalists were detained for about 90 minutes.

The three began their demonstration near the Monument to the People's Heroes, in the center of the huge square; each of them held a white artificial rose. White, in China, is the color of mourning.

"These three flowers symbolize liberty, justice and democracy," Jones said, looking into the television cameras that the Americans had alerted. "Those who died here on June 4, 1989, did not die in vain. They were martyrs to these principles that we all hold dear, and they were catalysts to the extraordinary changes that we see taking place throughout the world.

Olympics 2008: Pelosi urges world to condemn China over crackdown in Tibet | The Guardian - March 22, 2008 |

'Sapere aude'

U.S. Congress Group Honors Beijing Dead | WaPo - Sept. 5, 1991 |

The incident came as the legislators were concluding an unusual visit organized by two dissident Chinese groups in exile -- the Massachusetts-based Democracy for China Fund and the Hong Kong Alliance for a Democratic China.

In their talks, the legislators told officials from the Justice, Public Security and Foreign ministries that the battle over most-favored-nation trading status for China is far from over. Democratic changes in the Soviet Union are likely to increase pressure in Congress to strip China of the trade status or at least impose tough human rights conditions on renewing it, they said.

"More and more in the Congress, there is the feeling that we have been pursuing a double standard . . ." said Miller at a press conference before the incident at the square. "Given the recent tremendous changes in the Soviet Union, for us to be in the position of saying the Soviet Union should not have MFN but China, which has not made these political changes, should, is becoming less and less defensible."

Most-favored-nation status grants countries the lowest possible import duties to the United States. According to one U.S. estimate, loss of such status would cost China about three-fourths of its exports to the United States -- a total estimated at $20 billion this year -- because of sharply increased tariff rates.

¹⁾ MFN: How It Lowers Your Shopping Bill. Adding tariffs and the upheaval of goods and logistics during the Corona pandemic is the major factor of today's inflation and rising cost of living. The War in Ukraine tops it off and most likely extends the economic hostilities for years.

'Huge Blow': Hong Kong Civil Society Group Disbands | VOA News - Sept. 25, 2021 |

'Sapere aude'