Pedestrians hold umbrellas as they walk amid rainfall during a vigil at Liberty Square in Taipe, Thursday, to commemorate the anniversary of China's 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. AFP-Yonhap
BEIJING — China accused the United States on Thursday of distorting facts and smearing its political system, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said censorship could not "erase" the memory of Beijing's 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.
On June 4 that year, the Chinese government sent troops and tanks to crush protests calling for political reform in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
The death toll remains unknown, and discussion of what happened is censored in mainland China.
Rubio told a news conference on Wednesday that "no amount of censorship can erase the past."
