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 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters.
On 4 June 1989, the Chinese government sent troops and tanks to crush protests calling for political reform in and around the central square in the capital Beijing.
The death toll remains unknown and discussion of what happened is censored in mainland China.
Rubio said at a news conference on Wednesday that "no amount of censorship can erase the past."
"Those who sacrificed to uphold their unalienable rights of free expression and peaceful assembly will be vindicated someday," he said.
