China should give more political rights to its people in order to earn more international respect, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen says.
On the 27th anniversary of China's military crackdown on the pro-democracy demonstration in Tiananmen Square, Tsai urged Beijing to treasure its citizens who seek democracy.
"These people might help China step forward," she wrote on Facebook.
According to Tsai, the Beijing regime is pressured by increasing demands for political and social transformation.
"It would gain more respect from the rest of the world if it could give the people in mainland China more rights," Tsai said.
Tsai said she hoped that the views of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait toward freedom and human rights would some day converge.
In Taipei, former Tiananmen Square student leader Wuer Kaixi and some Taiwanese MPs marked the 1989 event with a commemoration.
