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Swarajya Staff
Aug 19, 2019, 10:02 AM | Updated 10:02 AM IST
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Further adding to the troubles of Communist China, United States President Donald Trump said on Sunday that carrying out a Tiananmen Square-style crackdown on Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters would harm trade talks between the two countries.
On Sunday, close to two million pro-democracy activists marched peacefully in Hong Kong despite strong warnings from China. Latter has called the protests "terrorist-like" actions of a violent minority, while state media has broadcast images of military personnel and armored personnel carriers in Shenzhen, across the border from the Hong Kong.
"I think it'd be very hard to deal if they do violence, I mean, if it's another Tiananmen Square," Trump told reporters in New Jersey. "I think it's a very hard thing to do if there's violence," he was quoted as saying by NDTV.
Over the question on if Beijing resorted to Tienanmen Square-style crackdown, Trump said, "I think there'd be... tremendous political sentiment not to do something," Trump said, referring to the trade negotiations with China.
In 1989, China deployed tanks to end student-led protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, resulting in an estimated death toll between several hundred to over a thousand.