The suspicion that a lab-leak in China may have been the root cause of the Covid-19 pandemic has triggered global interest in Beijing's past, including the bloody June 4 incident when PLA tanks mowed down student protesters in the capital's iconic Tiananmen Square.

From Dhaka to London protestors marched on Friday, to decry the infamous incident, which triggered fundamental changes in the Chinese economy, politics and the country’s social rhythms.

On June 4, many people in Dhaka assembled outside the Baitul Mukarram mosque in the city to mark the 32nd anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre. A Hindustan Times report said that one of the banners used during the candlelight assemblage read ‘Genocide Day.’

Further east, when Japan sent a consignment of Covid 19 vaccines to Thailand, it chose the flight number as JL809, raising many eyebrows, on whether this was a faint reference to the 1989 event.  Incidentally, Japan was one of the first countries among the G7 members to restore relations with China following the crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

“As the flight arrived in Taiwan on June 4, the 32nd anniversary of Tiananmen, commentators also drew a parallel. On that day, Beijing rained down death and destruction on its own people, while Japan supplied potentially life-saving vaccines to Taiwan, netizens said,” Taiwan News said.

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Another report by news agency ANI flashed that in London too, thousands gathered outside the Chinese Embassy to mark the day.

“The protestors gathered at the embassy were shouting slogans against the Chinese repression and were seen waving black flags as well as the flag of Free Tibet at the vigil in London. They rallied various issues ranging from the Tiananmen massacre to support trade union and democracy activists in China,” it said.

So why the renewed interest in the Tiananmen incident ?

BR Deepak, expert on China and Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) said that the global outcry against the Tiananmen incident may not have been a coincidence.

“It may have been a way to send some kind of a message (from Japan) to China and the rest of the world with a very subtle yet direct reference to the Tiananmen Square incident,” Deepak said.

In fact, shadows of the Tiananmen Square massacre popularly known as the June 4th incident, which took place 32 years ago – in 1989 -in Beijing, are back to haunt China amid the outbreak of the Covid 19 pandemic and the cries for a fair and transparent investigation over the origin of the virus.

While in all these years since the massacre took place, only a few have managed to commemorate the anniversaries of the ghastly incident, this year the spotlight is on the dragon.

Deepak pointed out that post the incident, things normalised rapidly for China, which became the factory of the world.

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“China was the darling of the world as it quickly turned to becoming the factory of the world and the incident was buried within no time but now with the changing power equations between the western world and China things have taken a turn. The pandemic too has played a role,” he said, adding that surprisingly debates over the massacres never gained any traction even two years ago when it was the 30th anniversary.

Analysts said that one of the reasons is also the growing aggression and dominance of China.

Many countries today feel threatened by the unprecedented Chinese aggression.

Another analyst pointed out that the issue of human rights violation by the Chinese authorities in Xinjiang has come to the fore as well.

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“There have been gross human rights violations and even killings earlier too but never were these incidents talked about but today the dynamics have changed. Skeletons are coming out of the cupboard,” the analyst said. He added that besides these human rights violations, other issues relating to economic dominance through the route of debt trap is also an area of concern.

Deepak added that many students who managed to flee China in 1989 have also found a voice against the Chinese oppression amid the present geo-political dynamics. “While they have been observing June 4, they are suddenly finding support today,” he said.

China’s economic dominance

The finer contours of the ambitious multi-billion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has been going on for the last few years too, had gone unnoticed even as countries fell into subsequent debt traps.

“These issues are back on the discussion table as well. For China, the world would be different,” the analyst said.

One analyst who did not wish to be named said that China’s global rise has brought the world to an inflection point. “It could either lead to a new cold war or trigger the emergence of a cooperative multipolar world based on  changes in China’s  behaviour from brusque confrontation to restrained collaboration.”